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Kenyan Literature
Kenyan literature describes literature which comes from Kenya. Kenya has a long literary tradition, both oral and written; primarily in English and Swahili, the two official languages of the country. __NOTOC__ History Kenya has a strong tradition of oral literature, which continues today in several languages. As a result of Kenya's history, including a period where it was a former British colony, Kenyan literature concurrently belongs to several bodies of writing, including that of the Commonwealth of Nations and of Africa as a whole. Most written literature is in English; some scholars consider Swahili to be marginalized in Kenyan literature. Notable writers Important Kenyan writers include Grace Ogot, Meja Mwangi, Paul Kipchumba, Kinyanjui Kombani, Margaret Ogola, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Francis Imbuga, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor and Binyavanga Wainaina. Notable works One of the best known pieces of Kenyan literature is '' Utendi wa Tambuka'', which translates to ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (born 1968) is a Kenyan writer who is the author of novels, short stories and essays. She won the 2003 Caine Prize for African Writing for her story "Weight of Whispers". Education and professional life Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Owuor studied English at Kenyatta University, before taking an Master of Arts, MA in TV/Video development at Reading University. She obtained an MPhil in Creative Writing from the University of Queensland, Australia. Owuor has worked as a screenwriter and from 2003 to 2005 was the executive director of the Zanzibar International Film Festival. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications worldwide, including ''Kwani?'' and ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, McSweeney's'', and her story "The Knife Grinder’s Tale" was made into a short film of the same title, released in 2007. In 2010, along with Binyavanga Wainaina, Owuor participated in the Chinua Achebe Center's "Pilgrimages" project and travelled to Kinshasa, and intend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elspeth Huxley
Elspeth Joscelin Huxley CBE (née Grant; 23 July 1907 – 10 January 1997) was an English writer, journalist, broadcaster, magistrate, environmentalist, farmer, and government adviser. She wrote over 40 books, including her best-known lyrical books, ''The Flame Trees of Thika'' and ''The Mottled Lizard'', based on her youth in a coffee farm in British Kenya. Her husband, Gervas Huxley, was a grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley and a cousin of Aldous Huxley. Early life and education Nellie and Major Josceline Grant, Elspeth's parents, arrived in Thika in what was then British East Africa in 1912, to start a life as coffee farmers in colonial Kenya. Elspeth, aged six, arrived in December 1913, complete with governess and maid. Her upbringing was unconventional; she was "almost treated as a parcel, being passed from hand to hand". Huxley's 1959 book ''The Flame Trees of Thika'' explores how unprepared for rustic life the early British settlers really were. It was adapted into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Out Of Africa
''Out of Africa'' is a memoir by the Danish people, Danish author Karen Blixen. The book, first published in 1937, recounts events of the eighteen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya, then called East Africa Protectorate, British East Africa. The book is a lyrical meditation on Blixen's life on her coffee plantation, as well as a tribute to some of the people who touched her life there. It provides a vivid snapshot of African colonial life in the last decades under the British Empire. Blixen wrote the book in English language, English and then rewrote it in Danish language, Danish. The book has sometimes been published under the author's pen name, Isak Dinesen. Background Karen Blixen moved to East Africa Protectorate, British East Africa in late 1913, at the age of 28, to marry her second cousin, the Swedish people, Swedish Swedish nobility, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, and make a life in the British colony known today as Kenya. The young Baron and Baroness bought farmlan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karen Blixen
Baroness Karen Christentze von Blixen-Finecke (born Dinesen; 17 April 1885 – 7 September 1962) was a Danish author who wrote in Danish and English. She is also known under her pen names Isak Dinesen, used in English-speaking countries; Tania Blixen, used in German-speaking countries; Osceola, and Pierre Andrézel. Blixen is best known for ''Out of Africa'', an account of her life while in East Africa Protectorate, Kenya, and for one of her stories, ''Babette's Feast (short story), Babette's Feast''. Both have been adapted as films and each won Academy Awards. She is also noted, particularly in Denmark and the US, for her ''Seven Gothic Tales''. Among her later stories are ''Winter's Tales'' (1942), ''Last Tales'' (1957), ''Anecdotes of Destiny'' (1958) and ''Ehrengard'' (1963). The latter was adapted to film in 2023 as the romantic comedy ''Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction.'' Blixen was considered several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, but failed to win, accordin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Grain Of Wheat
''A Grain of Wheat'' is a historical novel written by Kenyan novelist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, first published as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series. It was written while he was studying at Leeds University and first published in 1967 by Heinemann. The title is taken from the Gospel of John, 12:24. The novel weaves together several stories set during the state of emergency in Kenya's struggle for independence (1952–59), focusing on the quiet Mugo, whose life is ruled by a dark secret. The plot revolves around his home village's preparations for Kenya's independence day celebration, Uhuru day. On that day, former resistance fighters General R and Koinandu plan on publicly executing the traitor who betrayed Kihika (a heroic resistance fighter hailing from the village). In 2022, ''A Grain of Wheat'' was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Plot summary The even ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The River Between
''The River Between'' is a 1965 novel by Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o that was published as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series. It tells the story of the separation of two neighbouring villages of Kenya caused by differences in faith set in the decades of roughly the early 20th century. The bitterness between them caused much hatred between the adults of each side. The story tells about the struggle of a young leader, Waiyaki, to unite the two villages of Kameno and Makuyu through sacrifice and pain. The novel is set during the colonial period, when white settlers arrived in Kenya's "White Highlands The White Highlands is an area in the central uplands of Kenya. It was traditionally the homeland of indigenous Central Kenyan communities up to the colonial period, when it became the centre of European settlement in colonial Kenya, and between ...", and has a mountain setting. Plot summary A young man called Waiyaki is the focal point in Ngugi’s st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Africa
East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the region is recognized in the United Nations Statistics Division United Nations geoscheme for Africa, scheme as encompassing 18 sovereign states and 4 territories. It includes the Horn of Africa to the North and Southeastern Africa to the south. Definitions In a narrow sense, particularly in English-speaking contexts, East Africa refers to the area comprising Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, largely due to their shared history under the Omani Empire and as parts of the British East Africa Protectorate and German East Africa. Further extending East Africa's definition, the Horn of Africa—comprising Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia—stands out as a distinct geopolitical entity within East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weep Not, Child
''Weep Not, Child'' is a 1964 novel by Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. It was his first novel, published in 1964 under the name James Ngugi. It was in the African Writers Series of the Heinemann publishing company. ''Weep Not, Child'' was the first English-language novel by an East African to be published. Thiong'o's works deal with the relationship between Africans and white settlers in colonial Kenya, and are heavily critical of colonial rule. Specifically, ''Weep Not, Child'' deals with the Mau Mau Uprising, and "the bewildering dispossession of an entire people from their ancestral land." Ngũgĩ wrote the novel while he was a student at Makerere University. The book is divided into two parts and eighteen chapters. Part one deals mostly with the education of Njoroge, while part two deals with the rising Mau Mau movement. Plot summary Njoroge, a little boy, is urged to attend school by his mother. He is the first one of his family able to go to school. His family liv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debut Novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future. First-time novelists without a previous published reputation, such as publication in nonfiction, magazines, or literary journals, typically struggle to find a publisher. Sometimes new novelists will self-publish their debut novels, because publishing houses will not risk the capital needed to market books by an unknown author to the public. Most publishers purchase rights to novels, especially debut novels, through literary agents, who screen client work before sending it to publishers. These hurdles to publishing reflect both publishers' limits in resources for reviewing and publishing unknown works, and that readers typically buy more books from established authors with a reputation than from first-time writers. For ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamic Calendar
The Hijri calendar (), also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the Ramadan, annual fasting and the annual season for the Hajj, great pilgrimage. In almost all countries where the predominant religion is Islam, the civil calendar is the Gregorian calendar, with Assyrian calendar, Syriac month-names used in the Arabic names of calendar months#Levant and Mesopotamia, Levant and Mesopotamia (Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine), but the religious calendar is the Hijri one. This calendar enumerates the Hijri era, whose Epoch (reference date), epoch was established as the Islamic New Year in 622 Common Era, CE. During that year, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina and established the first Muslim community (''ummah''), an event commemorated as the Hijrah. In the West, dates in this era ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epic Poem
In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to oral tradition, epic poems consist of formal speech and are usually learnt word for word, and are contrasted with narratives that consist of everyday speech where the performer has the license to recontextualize the story to a particular audience, often to a younger generation. Influential epics that have shaped Western literature and culture include Homer's ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey''; Virgil's ''Aeneid''; and the anonymous ''Beowulf'' and ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. The genre has inspired the adjective '' epic'' as well as derivative works in other mediums (such as epic films) that evoke or emulate the characteristics of epics. Etymology The English word ''epic'' comes from Latin , which itself comes from the Ancient Greek adjective () ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
