Kenyanpoet

• Mukoma Wa Ngugi's Detective Fiction Novel 'Nairobi Heat' now out

  Posted: November 24, 2009, 11:15 am by N.W

  Mukoma Wa Ngugi the son of renown writer Ngugi Wa Thiong'o was in Kenya during the Story Moja Hay Festival in August and he did talk about this new Detective Fiction Novel that he was working on that is set in Nairobi.
  Nairobi Heat is finally out published by Penguine South Africa.
  
  About the Book
  When a beautiful blonde girl is found murdered on the porch of an African university professor in Maple Bluff, Madison, Wisconsin, hard-working African American detective Ishmael Fofona knows immediately that it will be the news event of the year. What he cannot know however is that the discovery of the dead girl will change his life forever and that barely seventy-two hours after being called to the scene he will find himself on African soil, hunting for clues in a case that seemingly makes no sense. Why would Joshua Hakizimana – a hero of the Rwandan genocide, a man who had saved hundreds of people from the machetes of the genocidaires – kill a random white girl and then dump her body outside his house? The answers, it would seem, lie in Africa. And there is only one way to get at them.
  Read his interview with Chimurenga, in which he talks about the book and the why he has now ventured into  this genre of writing.

• Leela James - Baby Am scared of you(A Boby Womack's rendition) Lets do it Again!

  Posted: November 20, 2009, 10:05 pm by N.W

  I heard this rendition of Bobby Womack's Baby Am Scared of You  redone by Leela James today on Projectvibe and I LOVED IT especially towards the end where she incorporates some ragga!, awesome, not to mention the soulfulness of the song. This is off her new 2nd Album 'Lets do it Again' which was available in stores in March this year.
  Enjoy this as you start your weekend.
  

• Sir Tim Berners - Lee; The WWW Inventor lands in Kenya and talks to Skunkworks & Innovators at Strathmore University

  Posted: November 20, 2009, 9:38 pm by N.W

  Credited with inventing the World Wide Web(WWW), Sir Tim Berners- Lee is in town and was today  at the Strathmore University for an Interactive IT education session for IT professionals, students and innovators. Various skunkworks innovators had been invited to showcase their IT innovations(and prove that we are not just a continent ridden with poverty AIDS and other lethal diseases - I added that last part)
  
  
  
  The event had been put up on FB but it was an invite from Wilfred Mworia of African Pixel that led me to the actual FB invite. I did tweet about it but unfortunately, due to the short duration in planning and announcing, the event was not attended as one would expect, especially so because the father of the WEB was giving a talk.
  
  It was planned to start at 8.30 but did did not start till after 9 with opening remarks from Alex Gakuru.
  
  Some of the innovators who got 10 mins each to talk were:-
  
  Mbugua Njihia - Sembuse (Mobile social network)
  Gichingiri - Website.co.ke (for online website listing and website reviews)
  Wilfred Mworia - Apps for Iphones, African Pixel and Afrinnovator
  Mugambi - Jahazi (Local Kenyan internet content)
  Emmanuel Kaala - Ushahidi (crowdsourcing crisis Information)
  Liko - Pesa Pal (An e-commerce platform for Kenyans)
  
  Tim Berners did give an interesting talk on what led to the invention of the net, the tremendous growth that it has undergone, the future as well as some word of caution to the bloggers and the twitterers. This was in regards to dissemination of accurate information and self regulation.
  
  As the event came to a close, Alex decided to pull a fast one on me seeing that there was no gender sensitivity on the podium. I got to talk about the blog, Kenyan bloggers and answer the challenge posed by Alex and Tim Berner on self regulation of bloggers.
  
  The event ended with closing remarks from Phares Kariuki as we headed out for some snacks courtesy of Strathmore University.
  Watch the rest of the photos here.

• Poem: Njeri Na İrũngũ

  Posted: November 18, 2009, 12:48 pm by N.W

  Njeri ũmũthĩ nĩwatiga kũhana ta jereeri
  Kuonagwo nĩ arũme makeeda kũmenya kana wĩ jagatha
  Ĩrĩa ĩtarĩ nyamainĩ kana rũũainĩ
  Kana maaĩ ma irũtũ
  ũmũthi nĩwatuonia wĩ mwĩrĩinĩ
  Rũbaru rwa Irũngũ
  Nyama cia nyama ciake
  kĩĩga kĩa mwĩrĩ waake
  Kĩũma kĩa goro eejeire itũũra rĩa Rimuru
  Mĩaka mũgwaja mĩthĩru
  Onawe ũroĩejera ngoroĩne yake
  Mĩrĩ ya wendo waku ĩhane mũtĩ mũhande rũũĩinĩ
  Na riri wakũ ũhane riũa thaa thita
  
  İrũngũ rĩu nĩwahurũka kũriũnga
  Ta njũki ĩkĩhũnga marũa na mahũri
  Mwatũ waku nĩwaihũra
  Wendo ũhana ũkĩ
  Indo nyingĩ ta magua
  Na ciana nyingĩ ta jata ũtukũ
  ũroogitĩra mũciĩ waku
  Na ngoro ya Mwendwa waku
  Ta rũgiri rwa kaiyafa
  
  ..............................................
  Summary Translation: This is a poem about Njeri(a lady) and İrũngũ ( a Gentleman) who have decided to wed. It advises them on their union and their new life together.
  ..............................................
  All rights reserved©
  Njeri Wangari
   njeriwangari(at)kenyanpoet(dot)com
  
  

• Poem: A Woman, A Wife

  Posted: November 18, 2009, 12:35 pm by N.W

  She embodies the beauty of a home
  Igniting the warmth in a smile.
  Her touch soothes a hurting soul,
  A porter, she moulds a sanctuary from a house.
  
  Her love, selfless, blows gently like a cool breeze.
  Her care, like the air we breathe,
  always there.
  
  Her trust is the truth we understand by faith
  Her body is the beauty that is felt
  with every new born she brings forth
  A woman, a wife
  
  This woman has today become a wife,
  
  .........................................
  A dedication written for my Cousin on her wedding on 14th Nov, 09
  .........................................
  All rights reserved©
  Njeri Wangari
  njeriwangari(at) kenyanpoet(dot)com
  
  
  

• MEMORIAL TO A MAN WHO ADVISED: "BE TRUE TO YOURSELF"

  Posted: November 18, 2009, 12:02 pm by N.W

  By Margaretta wa Gacheru
  
  Artists Day, the event organized by the Murumbi Memorial Trust, didn’t draw the scads of local and global artists it had anticipated meeting recently [October 25th] at the Nairobi City Park where the late Joseph Murumbi is immortalized in granite, soft metal and Kisii stone sculptures.
  
  But the day did manage to attract three of the most important and critically acclaimed East African artists whose works are now permanently resident in the Park and whose lives were mightily transformed by the touch and attention of Kenya’s leading art patron.
  
  Elkana Ongesa, John Odoch Ameny and Expedito Mwebe all came to testify that day to the crucial role that Murumbi had played in their lives. Unfortunately, the fourth artist whose sculpture is at the Memorial site, Francis Nnaggenda, was unable to attend, but he too valued the patronage of Kenya’s leading cultural connoisseur.
  
  For it wasn’t just that the former Vice President and Kenya’s first Foreign Affairs Minister bought their art. In the early 1970s Murumbi joined hands with the American designer Alan Donovan to establish the African Heritage Pan African Gallery where their work was exhibited and exposed to both local and international audiences.
  
  For instance, Elkana Ong’esa’s 12 ton Kisii stone ‘Bird of Peace’ wouldn’t be standing at the front of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris if the Murumbi’s, Joe and his wife Sheila, hadn’t had the General-Secretary of UNESCO Amadou M’Bow to dinner where he saw an Ongesa sculpture and wanted one of his own! According to the sculptor himself, Murumbi graciously gave M’Bow an uncut stone that he had already picked for Ong’esa to sculpt. That is the stone that now resides permanently in Paris, a source of pride for all Kenyans.
  
  The Ugandan artist John Odoch Ameny had a very different relationship with Murumbi. Having met Joe, Sheila and Alan in 1976 while still working as a Fine Art Instructor at Dr, Obote College in Bora Bora, Odoch was officially in Kenya to train to be an External Examiner at Kenya Science Teacher College. But he’d managed to slip several of his soft metal sculptures into his luggage, hoping to find an art gallery keen to exhibit his work in Nairobi. “I first went to Gallery Watatu but was advised that African Heritage might have more interest in my sculpture since they were all about paintings,” Odoch recalled.
  
  Meeting the Murumbis was definitely a turning point in his life. “When I met them, they were all busy washing Kisii stones upstairs in the gallery. I had no idea I was talking to a former [Kenyan] vice president,” Odoch said.
  
  “Murumbi took all of my sculptures on consignment and told me they would contact me when and if the works sold. I returned to Uganda and less than a month later, I received a telegram to come for my money and bring all the work that I had. From then on, I was crossing the border to Kenya practically once a month,” he said.
  
  I first wrote about Odoch Ameny in 1978 when he mounted his first one-man show at African Heritage. Writing in The Nairobi Times, I called his work exquisitely “outrageous” because he was the first sculptor I had known to use scrap metal so imaginatively. Making life-size soldiers who subtly mocked the Amins of Africa, his soldered metal sculptures combined humor, irony, lyricism and fine artistry.
  
  Odoch brought those same qualities to the sculpture he’d made especially for the Murumbi Memorial in City Park. Unfortunately, thieves admired the scrap metal of his work more than the form, and thus stole the first Murumbi sculpture after the site was officially opened in March.
  
  To ensure that the next Odoch-Ameny sculpture not be stolen like the first, Alan Donovan requested him to work in Kisii stone this time round.
  
  “Would you believe I made this [second Murumbi] sculpture in less than a week?” Odoch asked me at the unveiling of his new work at the National Museums of Kenya, still on Artists Day.
  
  A prolific artist whose sculptures are in museums and private collections everywhere from Israel to the USA to UK, Odoch had not been able to come to Kenya from his studio-home in Malaba, Uganda until mid-October. But the time constraint hadn’t hampered his creativity or technique. On the contrary, his ‘Universal Couple”-- while being more abstract than his previous works -- is no less curvaceous and exquisitely contoured.
  
  And like the sculptures of both Nnaggenda and Expedito, Odoch’s work reflects appreciation of both Murumbis, both Joe and Sheila. That seems most fitting since it was she, a former librarian whom he met in the UK while working for Kenya’s Independence who introduced him to the joys of collecting fine art.
  
  But in the reception hall of the National Museums of Kenya, one will not only find the ‘universal couple’ of Odoch Ameny, Nnaggenda and Expedito, each of which has a completely different artistic interpretation of this exceptionally art-loving couple. Works by all four artists, including Ong’esa, are on display for the next few weeks at least.
  
  May I recommend that anyone who loves sculpture, appreciates East African art, and wants to be awestruck by the imaginative and emotive appeal of the art of these four great art, go see their work at the Kenya National Museum. For instance, Ong’esa has two powerful pieces there that reflect his anguished aesthetic response to the post-election violence of early 2008. Expedito has miniature combs that are finely carved and crafted with meticulous sensitivity and detail. And Odoch Ameny has three remarkable larger-than-life Telecom-man sculptures, made from discarded mobile phones that had been donated to Donovan by Safari Com CEO Michael Joseph. Recycled in the form of the three wonderful cell-phone-filled statues that are vaguely reminiscent of his Seventies soldered Amin-ish soldiers, Odoch Ameny’s Telecom-men were rumored to be headed for the forthcoming SafariCom Gallery; but until that rumor gets confirmed, they have a happy home at the National Museum.
  
  Whether his Telecom-men end up with SafariCom or not, Odoch-ameny says he learned one important lesson from Joe Murumbi that he will never forget. “I had been thinking of applying for a job teaching at Kenyatta University College after their Art Department opened up,” Odoch recalled. This was before he came to Kenya in the mid-Eighties and became production manager at African Heritage. It was while Odoch, though still teaching, had developed a symbiotic relationship with the Murumbis, where he would create works and AH would immediately sell his art. “I asked Joe for advice on what I should do. He called me to his private office at the Muthaiga Club and told me: “Stand on your own two feet.” I took that to mean that I should continue developing my art and not go work for someone else, not to lean on anybody.”
  
  Murumbi’s advice to Odoch Ameny is applicable to most every artist or jua kali artisan today. Self employment, however difficult it may be, is the only option that Murumbi saw for the artist to be his or her own person, to cultivate his creativity and to fulfill his dreams. That could very well be the essence of Murumbi’s Memorial since his own life exemplifies that desire—to be true to one’s self, no matter how high the price.
  
  Margaretta Wa Gacheru can be reached on margarettag(at)hotmail(dot)com

• Its Now Official, My First Poetry Book Collection will be out in March 2010

  Posted: November 11, 2009, 11:18 am by N.W

  I can now say it loudly, You will have a chance to read my first book of published poetry containing all poems that I have been writing for the last 5 years. The book will be out in March 2010 as announced by my publisher - Nsemia Inc. Publishers.
  
  I had to restrain myself from doing this post last night at 11pm when I received the email.
  
  The book which is now in the design stage has a collection of my most memorable pieces that I have performed in various venues in Nairobi in three languages - English, Kiswahili, Sheng and Gikuyu. Translations will be available in English.
  
  Read the full story here.
  
  You can bet that KP fans will be the first to know when the book is available for sale.

• Ukurasa- Simple Reading; The new Social Medium for book lovers

  Posted: November 10, 2009, 8:52 pm by N.W

  Virn Instruments company, a firm run by Kahenya Kamunyu whom I first met during the first ever Bar Camp in Kenya a year ago has embarked on a unique project dubbed Ukurasa (page in kiswahili)
  
  Ukurasa is a social media site for books that is geared towards the exchange of books through either sale or sharing as well as place where would be writers can get to write books online through their personal account and get their book published and sold on the same platform. One can also buy or borrow books they see with the Ukurasa community and see the collection points which have been enabled through Google Maps.
  
  Ukurasa whose slogan is 'Simple Reading' will help those like me who find it a task going to a book library/bookshop to borrow/buy a book. All one needs is an account with any social network(it currently working with  Twitter accounts but soon to incorporate Facebook, Myspace and Gmail),an Mpesa/Zap enabled phone and a reading appetite.
  
  Those who will be attending 'The Breakaway' on Saturday 14th Nov at the Kenya National Museum will have a chance to hear about it from Kahenya who is also one of the speakers. (Sadly, I won't be there)
  
  But Hey! Finally I can make some money from those books that I don't mind getting rid of and hopefully get any of James Baldwin's books for a lower rate or someone who's willing to lend me their copy.
  
  Log on and test the site. It will be fully up next week.

• Rhythm & Spoken, 13th Nov '09 Feat Kevin Samuel Mbugua

  Posted: November 10, 2009, 7:55 pm by N.W

  This Friday 13 November at Dass restaurant, Westlands, Project Heshima presents...
  
  A music and poetry open mic night with special guest Kevin Samuel Mbugua on his guitar. A Berkley Graduate Kevin is a singer and songwriter and his song Elsewhere has for the past month been a popular listeners choice on the Sunday Neosoul Lounge with Chao Mwatela.
  
  Poets line up includes, the illustrious Eudiah Kamonjo and Mstari wa Nne's Leon Kiptum and David Inkwa among others. Sign up will remain open throughout.
  
  Starts: 8:30pm
  Performances: 9pm
  Neosoul afterparty with DJ Eduardo
  Entry Ksh.200

• Al Kags' Living Memories Book Launch, Dramatized Performances and Halfway between Nairobi and Dundori.

  Posted: November 10, 2009, 11:27 am by N.W

  On Wednesday 11th November 2009 at the Louis Leakey Hall at the Nairobi Museum, Story Moja  in collaboration with with Kenya Museum Society will be launching Living Memories; Kenya's Untold Stories, a book by Al Kags with an on-stage rendition  
  
  
  Living Memories is a testimonial project in which Al Kags spoke to people over 65 years of age and simply recorded the story of their lives during the Emergency days - it is the stories of ordinary people surviving extraordinary times and how they have shaped who we are.
  
  There will also be a rendition from Muthoni Garland's 2nd  book, Halfway between Nairobi and Dundori...
  Gate fees: Kshs. 400
  
  About Al Kags
  Alex Kagwe (born on August, 13 1980), who changed his name to Al Kags, is a prominent writer and poet in Kenya. He is the founder of the Al Kags Trust for Poetry. He is also the creator and publisher of the Quarterly Colour Series of Poetry, which started September 2006 and is read by over 175,000 people around the world. Al Kags is also a leading entrepreneur in ICT and media circles.

• East African Publishers Books go live on Google Books

  Posted: November 9, 2009, 7:43 pm by N.W

  East African Educational Publishers' books are finally live on Google books with upto 20% preview on most of their titles.
  They joined the Google Publishers Partnership Program in  July in a bid to market their books globally through the Google Books program. They will be making their full catalogue of over 2,500 books available for online preview on the same program.
  
  Late last week saw a total of 713 books go live on the Google Books site complete with previews and buying links to the publisher's online shop as well as other online outlets.
  Avid readers of  African Literature can now scheme through some of Africa's best sellers reading several random pages as though they were at their favorite bookshop and only click on the buy link once they decide to make a purchase.
  EAEP joins Kwani Trust in the online book marketing Venture with Google Books.

• Poem : Simple Reading

  Posted: November 5, 2009, 9:00 pm by N.W

  Can you read a simple mind
  simplify it with the simplicity of any sample matter
  by simply reading in between it?
  
  I can
  To me,
  its simple reading.
  
  Can you read a book
  quantify it with the quality of any quoted master
  by simply reading in between its covers?
  
  I can
  to me
  its simple reading.
  
  ----------------------------------------------------
  Njeri Wangari
  NjeriWangari(at)kenyanpoet(dot)com
  Nov. 2009
  All rights reserved©
  
  
  Watch out for Ukurasa - Simple Reading
  Coming to a computer near you.

• National Blackout, A missed interview show and a date with Braeburn School

  Posted: November 2, 2009, 12:00 pm by N.W

  I had mentioned(read -mildly bragged) that our Poetry group, Mstari wa Nne would be appearing on K24 for as part of an Entertainment show during the Daniel Pearl World Music day celebration at Paa Ya Paa. Apparently, the show did not come and even if it did, the whole country was in the dark due to a black out whose cause is yet to be established.
  I will be following up with Remmy of K24 on this.
  
  In other news, we (Mstari) have received and Invitation from Braeburn Garden Estate School  for a performance during their closing day towards the end of November. This was after our performance at PYP, something that really impressed the invited guests.
  
  More details will be coming soon when the date and time is confirmed. I must say this is a great opportunity for us to inspire students who still frown at the mention of poetry. I hope that we can get more invites from Learning Institutions.

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes