Podcasts
Dr Kavirondo: Promise me you'll have a Luo wife | Part 1
What happens when mourning turns into a fight over the dead man’s belongings? After the death of Brigadier Fred Kavirondo, thousands descend on his home to mourn. But as…
Articles
Essays, reviews, author profiles and serialised fiction about books published in Africa today.
Articles, page 3 of 15
Featured
The conundrum that marriage poses for women as they alternate from such titles as Miss, Mrs or even Ms
We spend a great deal of time talking about how, when and why women should get married. We talk about dating, beauty, femininity, fertility, compromise, being a “good…
Till death of the marriage do us part
Many African marriages today are being negotiated by people who inhabit two different worlds simultaneously. Many of the women in that room were solid professionals…
Book Serialisation
Saitoti breathes his last as Terian adjusts to being Masikonde’s second wife and Sinta's co-wife
“Masikonde may be changing his mind. I don’t want him to change his mind,” She added quickly, like a caveat to show she had nothing to do with it. And she spoke in…
Book Serialisation
Rift widens between Saitoti and Terian as Masikonde becomes the beneficiary in the relationship
By the time she reached him, she was weeping loudly. She fell on his chest, only stopping when Saitoti started crying loudly. “Sorry... Sorry. I just feel so bad because…
Featured
10 books every Kenyan should read to understand memory, resistance and democracy
The problem is not that young people have forgotten. It is that too few of us have been taught what came before. History and Government is treated as an elective in our…
Featured
The day God created Adam and Eve
But the Creator instinctively knew that would be a waste of time. As time would demonstrate, corporal punishment, or the rod if you may – and counselling – are…
Book Serialisation
Navigating through tradition and modernity, Masikonde relentlessly pursues a reluctant Terian
For the two hours Terian spent in the ward, Moraa paced up and down the reception area as she talked to herself. She still could not come up with a plausible explanation…
Book Serialisation
Sinta gives Masikonde nod to marry a second wife, sights ‘authentic’ Terian for the first time
Shifting in the driver’s seat, he studied the new arrival. She was tall; he guessed five feet, maybe nine inches. She bordered between slim and skinny. Even scrawny, if…
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Walls have ears: Barbara Adair on Nairobi's Art Deco buildings, African Asian heritage and why stories matter
"The Art Deco Buildings of Nairobi" is the latest work by South African writer Barbara Adair. More than a study of architecture, the book documents the memories and…
Podcasts
Barbara Adair on Indian Kenyan Communities and Nairobi's Architectural Heritage
What do buildings remember long after the people who built them are gone? In this episode of the Books in Africa Podcast, Tracy Ochieng speaks with South African writer…
Featured
'The Polygamist' and the shame of being seen loving
Anthropologists and historians have long distinguished between polygyny—the practice of one man having multiple wives—and infidelity or promiscuity. Across many African…