Featured
Vivian Kabono: In ‘After 4.30’, Lily shows the quiet dilemmas women face
Published barely eleven years after Kenya’s independence, the novel entered a society that was undergoing rapid transformation. Women were beginning to occupy offices…
Articles
Essays, reviews, author profiles and serialised fiction about books published in Africa today.
Articles, page 6 of 15
Book Serialisation
Bill's well-earned silence gets shattered by lingering nightmare that just won't go away...
Bill Odhiambo is a survivor of the 2016 military massacre in El Adde, which wiped out over a hundred Kenyan soldiers and left him crippled. Ostracised from the public by…
Book Serialisation
The price of dignity: Esther's London transformation
“But why don’t all these Kenyans, if they are so miserable, go back home?” she asked.“Pride. You have been here only a few months, and you hate it, but if I asked you to…
Podcasts
Empress Ciku Kimani Mwaniki on Finding Happiness, Muting the World, and Humanizing Nairobi's Pariahs in Nairobi Cocktail
In this episode, author Empress Ciku Kimani Mwaniki discusses her "chaotic" approach to life and her bestselling NaiRoberry Cocktail series. Ciku explains her philosophy…
Featured
Succession fiasco in Raila’s ODM: Reliving ‘The Godfather’?
Strangely, William Ruto, a political fox if there was one, missed the lesson. Against advice, he bypassed his Tom Hagen, Prof Kithure Kindiki, for Rigathi Gachagua – a…
Book Serialisation
Beyond the Visa and the Price of the Western Dream
It was a job at the reception, in a company that sold land. Nothing to do with what she had spent too much of Mr Muthama’s money studying. She hated the job on the first…
Featured
The Upside Down World of the Other Woman
If some men were honest about their desire to maintain multiple relationships, would the betrayal wound feel less deeply when discovered? Or would such honesty simply…
Book Serialisation
Campaign Strategies (As the Race Heats Up): “When Push Becomes Shove”
In September, I wouldn’t be going to City Hall as the new legislative councillor from Nairobi West, but to the “Twin Towers” of Kimathi Street as the new arts editor of…
Book Serialisation
Njugu Karanga and a Mercedes-Benz
Esther had been told, now and then, that she had a beautiful smile, but it was not often that she found a reason to smile. As she looked at her passport, she knew that…
Book Serialisation
MONEY, BERNIE, DANNY, DADDY AND DIRTY MEAN MEN
The first item on the menu for any politician, big or small, is printing costs: posters, flyers, banners, caps, T-shirts, and even motorcycle reflector jackets for the…
Podcasts
Ginny Clay on Writing Warrior Boy and Redefining Courage
In this episode, we explore Warrior Boy by Virginia Clay, a powerful coming-of-age story set between London and Kenya. At the centre of the novel is Ben Olmoran — a…
Featured
At the Banda School, authors help children tell their stories
The goal of the Banda Book Day celebration was to connect pupils with children’s authors, encourage reading for pleasure, and help young people tap into their own…