Kwani Trust

Kwani? SLS Reading

Kwani SLS Reading

Summer Literary Seminars is happy to be returning to Kenya for the first time since 2006. SLS is a truly unique experience, a one-of-a-kind literary program that has hosted some of the world’s most celebrated and progressive writers. As part of the week-long events, Kwani? will host a reading/performance for SLS Kenya 2009 at Daas Restaurant on 15th December 2009 at 7.30p.m. Read the story »

SLS Kenya

Summer Literary Seminars is happy to be returning to Kenya for the first time since 2006. SLS is a truly unique experience, a one-of-a-kind literary program that has hosted some of the world’s most celebrated and progressive writers. SLS has programs running or being planned for Montreal, St. Petersburg, and Vilnius, with more on the way in ‘11 and ‘12. The opening night of SLS Kenya 2009 celebrates this year’s event with local writers, artists, and literary professionals meeting SLS faculty and participants on 13th December 2009. Kwani? will also host a reading for SLS that includes a Storymoja performance adapted from “Living Memories” by Al Kags

Kwani Reading: Tuesday 15th December at Daas Restaurant. Time: 7.30pm

Program Dates: December 13th - 28th 2009

For more info on SLS Kenya click here.

‘The Kenya I Live In’ Short Story Competition Announcement

Kwani? Short Story Competition

Kwani Trust has received a record 500 entries for the ‘Kenya I Live In’ short story competition launched in July 2009. Winners will now be announced in mid-February 2010 during the launches of 4 upcoming Kwani? titles. Kwani Trust would like to thank all the writers who submitted entries into the competition.

Kwani? Online - Mis-Appreciation of African Literature’

In ‘Mis-Appreciation of African Literature’ (101), David Kaiza argues that fights over the reading African literature ought to concern us in Africa only as a curiosity; we have, for good and for worse, inherited a body of work already. It is not our place to doubt what is ours. He adds that we who would continue creating art and literature on the continent ought to concern ourselves with technical questions to start the kind of reading which should have been done years ago; to say if a book is written well or badly, to compare what we experience inside the pages and compare them to what we experience outside of them.Read the full article here.

CIRCA 1969: THE DEATH OF THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

In this second and last part of his letter to Philip Ochieng, Taban lo Liyong decries the poor quality of the African – and particularly East African - creative writing that seemed to emerge after the creation of the Department of African Literature. It is a sombre reflection on what Taban sees as a continuing lack of seriousness on the part of writers on the continent and region whom he says, do not read widely enough, do not strive hard enough to understand the religions, languages and traditions from around the world that would inform deeper literature. Read the full article here.