Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina (18 January 1971 – 21 May 2019) was a Kenyan author, journalist and 2002 winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. In 2003, he was the founding editor of '' Kwani?'' literary magazine. In April 2014, ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine included Wainaina in its annual ''Time'' 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World".

Early life and education

Binyavanga Wainaina was born on 18 January 1971 in

Nakuru Nakuru (nicknamed Nax) is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and it is the fourth largest city in Kenya and the largest in the Rift Valley region. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban population of 570, ...

Rift Valley Province Rift Valley Province () of Kenya, bordering Uganda, was one of Kenya's eight provinces, before the 2013 Kenyan general election. Rift Valley Province was the largest and one of the most economically important provinces in Kenya. It was dominated ...

, Kenya."Voices of Kenya's Voters"
, BBC News. He attended Moi Primary School in Nakuru, Mangu High School in

Thika Thika () is an industrial town and commerce hub in Kiambu County, Kenya, lying on the A2 road , northeast of Nairobi, near the confluence of the Thika and Chania Rivers. Although Thika town is administratively in Kiambu County, the greater ...

, and Lenana School in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

. He later studied commerce at the

University of Transkei The University of Transkei was a university in Umtata in the former bantustan of Transkei in South Africa. It was founded in 1976 as a branch of the University of Fort Hare and after the Transkei gained nominal independence in 1977, it became th ...

in South Africa, where he went to live in 1991. He completed an MPhil in Creative Writing at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

in 2010. His debut book, a memoir entitled ''One Day I Will Write About This Place'', was published in 2011. In January 2014, in response to a wave of anti-gay laws passed in Africa, Wainaina publicly announced that he was gay, first writing an essay that he described as a "lost chapter" of his 2011 memoir entitled "I am a Homosexual, Mum", and then tweeting: "I am, for anybody confused or in doubt, a homosexual. Gay, and quite happy."

Career

Following his education, Wainaina worked in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

for some years as a freelance food and travel writer. In July 2002 he won the Caine Prize for his short story "Discovering Home" (the judges being Ahdaf Soueif,

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

, Jason Cowley and Abdulrazak Gurnah). Wainaina was the founding editor of '' Kwani?'', the literary magazine in East Africa that sprang out of an artistic revolution that started in 2002. Established in 2003, ''Kwani?'' has since become an important source of new writing from Africa; Yvonne Owuor also wrote for the magazine and won the Caine Prize in 2003. Wainaina's satirical essay "How to Write About Africa", published in ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

'' magazine in 2005, attracted wide attention.Wainaina, Binyavanga (24 May 2019)
"How to Write About Africa II – The revenge"
, ''Bidoun'', Issue 21: Bazaar II, 2008. Wainaina summed up the way Western media has reinforced stereotypes and pre-existing ideas of Africa by saying their representation was that: "One must treat Africa as if it were one country... f900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book." In 2003, he was given an award by the Kenya Publishers Association for his services to Kenyan literature. He wrote for ''

The EastAfrican ''The EastAfrican'' is a weekly newspaper published in Kenya since 7 November 1994, by the Nation Media Group, which also publishes Kenya's national ''Daily Nation''. The ''EastAfrican'' also circulates in the other countries of the African Grea ...

'', ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' (South Africa), ''Granta'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Chimurenga ''Chimurenga'' is a word in Shona. The Ndebele equivalent is not as widely used since most Zimbabweans speak Shona; it is ''Umvukela'', meaning "revolutionary struggle" or uprising. In specific historical terms, it also refers to the Ndebele ...

'' and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' (UK). In 2007, Wainaina was a writer-in-residence at

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

Schenectady, NY Schenectady ( ) is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populous city and the twenty-fifth most-populous ...

(USA). In the fall of 2008, he was in residence at

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he was teaching, lecturing and working on a novel. He was a Bard Fellow and the director of the

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe (; born Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. His first novel ''Things Fall Apart'' ( ...

Center for African Literature and Languages at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

. Wainaina collected more than 13,000 recipes from around Africa and was an expert on traditional and modern

African cuisine African cuisine is an integral part of the continent's diverse cultures reflecting its long and complex history. The evolution of African cuisine is closely entwined with the lives of the native people, influenced by their religious practices, ...

. In January 2007, Wainaina was nominated by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

as a "

Young Global Leader Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), is a non-profit organization. The organization was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum and is managed from Geneva, Switzerland, under the supervision of the Sw ...

" – an award given to people for "their potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world." He subsequently declined the award. In a letter to

Klaus Schwab Klaus Martin Schwab (; born 30 March 1938) is a German mechanical engineer, economist, and founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He acted as the WEF's chairman since founding the organisation from 1971 until 2025 when he was replaced by P ...

and Queen Rania of

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, he wrote:

Personal life

On 1 December 2016,

World AIDS Day World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease. The acquired immu ...

, Wainaina announced on his

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profile that he was

HIV positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of th ...

, "and happy". In 2018, he announced that he would be marrying his long-term partner the following year.

Death

Wainaina died, aged 48, after a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

on the evening of 21 May 2019, at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, according to news and family sources. He had experienced several strokes since 2016.

Selected publications

* "Discovering Home" (short story), ''g21net'', 2001. Reprinted in ''Discovering Home: A selection of writings from the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing''. * "An Affair to Dismember" (short story), ''

Wasafiri ''Wasafiri'' is a quarterly British literary magazine covering international contemporary writing. Founded in 1984, the magazine derives its name from a Swahili word meaning "travellers" that is etymologically linked with the Arabic word "safari ...

'', Volume 17, Issue 37, 2002. * "Beyond the River Yei: Life in the Land Where Sleeping is a Disease" (photographic essay; with Sven Torfinn), Kwani Trust, 2004. * "How To Write About Africa" (article, satire), ''

'' 92, 2005. As ''How to Write About Africa'', Kwani Trust, 2008, . Reproduced in full in the 40th birthday edition of ''Granta'', 2 May 2019. * "In Gikuyu, for Gikuyu, of Gikuyu" (article, satire), ''Granta'' 103, 2008. * "How to Write About Africa II: The Revenge", '' Bidoun'', No. 21, Bazaar II, 2010. * ''One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir'' (autobiography);

Graywolf Press Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...

, 2011, . * "Viewpoint: Binyavanga on why Africa's international image is unfair",

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, Africa, 24 April 2012. * "I am a homosexual, mum" (essay). ''Africa is a Country'', 19 January 2014. Reprinted in ''The Guardian'', 21 January 2014. * "A Letter to All Kenyans from Binyavanga Wainaina or Binyavanga wa Muigai" (essay), '' Brittle Paper'', 25 October 2017.

Notes

External links

* (unofficial archive of Binyavanga Wainaina's writing)
Kwani?
* "Discovering Home

"Voices of Kenya's Voters"
Interview, BBC News.
"Kenyan wins African writing prize"
BBC News, 16 July 2002. * Stephanie Bosch Santana
"Exorcizing Afropolitanism: Binyavanga Wainaina explains why 'I am a Pan-Africanist, not an Afropolitan' at ASAUK 2012"
Africa in Words, 8 February 2013. * Qazi Mustabeen Noor
"Binyavanga Wainaina, powerhouse of African literature, dies at 48"
''

Dhaka Tribune The ''Dhaka Tribune'' is a major Bangladeshi English-language daily newspaper based in Dhaka, the country's capital and largest city. It also operates an online portal ( Bengali version) known as the '' Bangla Tribune''. The newspaper has a stron ...

'', 12 June 2019. * Geoff Ryman
"One Day This Man Will Get His Just Reward: An Obituary For Binyavanga Wainaina"
''Srange Horizons'', 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wainaina, Binyavanga 1971 births 2019 deaths 21st-century essayists 21st-century Kenyan writers 21st-century Kenyan LGBTQ people 21st-century male writers 21st-century memoirists Alumni of Lenana School Alumni of Mang'u High School Alumni of the University of East Anglia Caine Prize winners Gay journalists Kenyan essayists Kenyan journalists Kenyan LGBTQ writers Kenyan gay men Kikuyu people Magazine editors Male essayists People from Nakuru People with HIV/AIDS Kenyan memoirists

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

Death

Selected publications

See also

Notes

External links