Sunday Salon- November 23
November 14, 2008
Sunday Salon Nairobi
A Prose Reading Series
Featuring:
Juliet Maruru
Moraa Gitaa
+2 Screen Writers from the Kenya Film Commission & Kwani Trust Screen Writing Workshop
& Musician
Maia
Four readers
Four unique voices
In a tranquil outdoor setting
7-9pm
Sunday 23rd November
Kengeles, Lavington Green
Entry Only KSh. 300
ABOUT THE FEATURED WRITERS & MUSICIAN
Moraa Gitaa
Moraa Gitaa was born, bred and raised in the port city of Mombasa. She has lived and worked in the coastal beach town all her life and only a year ago moved to Nairobi where she is a fulltime writer and is working on plans to initiate an organization that provides books for disadvantaged children residing in informal settlements and those challenged by dyslexia, a condition that had challenged her daughter.
She attended the Aga Khan group of schools in Mombasa and studied Administration and IT at the Coast College of Commerce.
‘CRUCIBLE FOR SILVER AND FURNACE FOR GOLD’ is her debut novel published in Canada. She has a finished crime fiction novella (INDECENT PROPOSAL) and an inspirational text (I DARED TO DREAM) that is due to be published by StoryMoja.
Until most recently she was the Kenya staff writer for G21 for 4 years and is currently a correspondent for the American publications Mshale and African Magazine. She has penned a couple of book reviews for the Sunday Nation. Moraa has several short stories published in various anthologies including G21’s Africa Fresh!–New voices from the first continent (2007) and Author-Me’s Author Africa–2008 Anthology,some of which were submitted for the Caine Prize for African writing.
In 2005-2006 with 11 other screen-writers they co-authored and created a concept in the form of a new TV crime detective series titled CID Nairobi but are yet to get funding for the 13 series shoot. She has refused to be the ‘SAFE’ under 35 year old writer that most traditional local publishers have been looking for! That is why some people refer to her as a rebel writer, unorthodox and unconventional!
She cites her greatest inspiration as her thirteen year-old daughter Tracy and the Kenyan-African woman who struggles daily to ensure she provides for her family.
Moraa has also submitted her second novel ‘THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL’ to the Canadian publishing firm. She is working on her third novel provisionally titled ‘SHIFTING SANDS’, of which a chapter excerpt titled ‘From Shifting Sands to Deeper Dimensions’ won the NBDC(K) National Book Development Council of Kenya Literary Awards Book Week 1st Prize in the Adult Fiction Category at the 11th Nairobi International Book Fair September 2008.
Juliet Maruru
Juliet is a 20 something year old writer, a semi-trained kindergarten teacher, a writer and Editorial assistant at Storymoja. Her yet to be finished adventure novel for teens(looks like she has not given up on teens completely), might yet be published some time next year, but you can read her work on www.jmaruru.wordpress.com.
She loves to read, to write, to work with kids. Her motto adopted from a city then off a tolerant lawyer declares that ‘she floats..’ She needs to judging from the umber of times she finds herself in a deep end.
Juliet will be reading her short story, ‘There goes my Career’ which she describes as ‘one more story about surviving in the big wide world, drowning a little bit, then finding my stroke again, and loving it all’
MAIA VON LEKOW
Maia represents another amazing side to Kenya’s dynamic musical scene. Her voice
and style has an affinity with female jazz vocalists of the 1930s and soul and folk music
of the 1960s. In all her compositions, Maia is blazing new trails in Kenya; experimenting
with different styles, and creating a hybrid sound that is her very own.
Funk, groove, and soul…all this describes the music Maia creates. Music is not
something she merely enjoys; it defines who she is. Whether busking on street corners
while backpacking around the world, or jamming with friends at university in
Melbourne, Maia’s sound has developed from playing with musical talents from
around the world, injecting her own personality, background and culture into her
sound.
Her first single, Altered Light, was the result of collaboration with a funk bass player in
Melbourne. Since then, Maia traveled to Berlin and continued writing, singing and
collaborating before coming home to Kenya and continuing her work with artists,
friends and producers. Drift, Maia’s first album, is a culmination of her travels, her
meetings, her collaborations and her experiences; a global cross-pollinated vibe.Maia weaves her
adventures, stories and memories into this album producing jazzy riffs with folk licks to soulful percussive dub, a unique addition to Kenya’s music scene.In Kenya, Maia has performed for numerous awarenesscampaigns including the Korogocho Slum Campaign and a UN (youth) campaign on awareness in Mathare and Kibera slums, raising money for various schools in those areas. Maia has also composed jingles for various advertisements in Kenya and Berlin and music composition for a South African/Canadian theatre production, Crossroads, that raises awareness in Africa on issues of rape, gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS (www.cmfd.org). Her latest composition was featured in
the much-acclaimed Kenyan production, “From a Whisper”, depicting events of the 1998 bombing in Kenya.
In her creative forays around Kenya’s extremely rich cultural scene, Maia has been
able to find a highly motivated, talented and original individual. Together, this duo
has brought life to the imaginings and possibilities of Drift.
Kato Change
As the leading guitarist, Kato is one of Kenya’s most promising guitarists. Born into a
musical family, Kato has been musically prolific since the age of three, tapping on the
drums, experimenting with harmonicas, and ultimately teaching himself the guitar.
Kato’s style is reminiscent of George Benson and Paco de Lucia, with his own origin
Sunday Salon- October 19
October 17, 2008
A Prose Reading Series
NEW YORK – NAIROBI – CHICAGO
http://www.sundaysalon.com
Renee Mboya
Isabella Mugo
Sarah Simons
Eudiah Kamonjo
Four readers, four unique voices, in a tranquil outdoor setting.
An evening of entertainment for discerning lovers of the written word.
7-9pm, Sunday 19th October
Kengeles, Lavington Green
Entry Only KSh300
Free entry before 6.30pm
Free entry for all Sunday Salon Alumni
ABOUT THE WRITERS
Renee Mboya
Renee Mboya came back to Nairobi half a decade ago after a childhood in exile on a dusty farm, in an industrial town, on the slopes of Kilimambogo; and found it spoke to her soul. She will never again eat pineapples. She has recently embarked on a second half-degree (the first being semi-Law) in International Relations and is (at present) excited enough to consider completing it. She reads all the time and writes when she can.
Sarah Simons
Sarah Simons has a postgraduate background is education, development studies and forensic criminology. She is a trained crime investigator specializing in mapping analysis and research. Now venturing into crime fiction, she likes writing with a strong African flavour. She lives in Nairobi with her Dutch husband and two very sportive teenage children.
Isabella Mugo
Isabella Mugo is 23 years old. She has just completed four years as the University of Nairobi, pursuing a degree in Literature and Sociology. She loves to read and write, among very many other things.
Eudiah Kamonjo
Eudiah Kamonjo is a 24 year old poetess and journalist with a wide range of interests.
She is passionate about books and art in all its forms, writing, traveling, photography, dancing and exercise. She completed her Mass Communication studies in July 2005 and has been an active journalist since then. Eudiah has worked as a writer and editor for magazines like Homes Kenya Magazine, joining Oakland Media Services in 2006, where she worked on a myriad of publications, including Eve Magazine, Sokoni, and Eve Girl. She is also a member of PEN Kenya Chapter and is currently a correspondent on entertainment, arts, lifestyle, business, health and womens’ issues for various print and online publications.
Eudiah Kamonjo’s themes range from sexuality, spirituality, women and children issues. For 2008, she has been working on a poetry collection based on passion, desire, abuse and sexual identity; aspects of sexuality that have been ignored and will be highlighted in the collection titled ‘Not In Jeans’. She is also working on short stories on varying themes.
Sunday Salon- September 21
September 16, 2008
A Prose Reading Series
NEW YORK – NAIROBI – CHICAGO
http://www.sundaysalon.com
Margaret Ogola
Onduko bw’ Atebe
Philo Ikonya
Four readers, four unique voices, in a tranquil outdoor setting.
An evening of entertainment for discerning lovers of the written word.
7-9pm, Sunday 21st September
Kengeles, Lavington Green
Entry Only KSh300
Free entry before 6.30pm
Free entry for all Sunday Salon Alumni
ABOUT THE WRITERS
Onduko bw’ Atebe
Onduko bw’ Atebe emerged on the literary scene late 2005 with the publication of his book: The Verdict of Death. In 2006, the book was nominated and went on to win the biggest prize in the country – The Whome Mutahi Literary Award.
A fervent believer in the writing and reading faith, Atebe has since then gone on to join and work with other writers and writers’ organizations that profess, promote and spread the gospel. He is the Secretary General of the Kenya Organization of Writers’ Association (KOWA) He is also the secretary to the Literary Awards committee, run by the National Book Development council of Kenya (NBDC-K). Last but not least, he was recently elected the Vice President of International Pen – Kenya Chapter.
Philo Ikonya
Philo Ikonya is a journalist and media consultant. She is a linguist and understands Latin, Kiswahili, Gikuyu, Spanish, and Italian. She has had various stories and poetry in both English and Spanish. Her short story, “ Let the Dove Coo her Song” was published in Periplo, a literary magazine. She was also recently elected as the President of the International Pen – Kenya Chapter.
Margaret Ogola
Margaret Ogola has won the Commonwealth Best First Book in Africa and the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 1995 for her first novel The River and the Source. She has since published two other novels, I Swear by Apollo and Place of Destiny. Margaret Ogola is a paediatrician and the medical director for The Cottolengo Centre for orphaned children.
Sunday Salon: Enter at Risk, by Arno Kopecky
August 4, 2008
Heads up – the Ugandans are here. Two swept in from Kampala to dominate last night’s Sunday Salon: Kalundi Serumaga, a verbal assassin of a journalist, and David Kaiza, who recently traded in journalism for, shall we say, ethnotravelogue-ism.
Serumaga preempted his reading – a slow-roasting of the Kenyan intelligencia for the worst of all academic crimes, naivety – with an apology for meddling in Kenyan politics as an outsider. “Then again,” he informed the audience, “you are not Kenyans either. Kenya wasn’t built for black people, after all, and if you find yourself here it is either as a visitor or a servant.” And later, only half in jest, “genocide is only a problem when it isn’t carried out successfully. If you wipe a people out entirely, there is no one left to seek justice. The problem we have in Africa is that the colonialists never finished the job.”
I spent the rest of the evening hiding under a table. That was where Kaiza’s narrative found me and pinned me to the floor, this time in wonder instead of self-reproach. In April, Kaiza had been commissioned by Kwani? to trace the origins of the Luo – his people – following the post-election violence in which they figured so prominently; we joined him, transfixed, on a journey down the Nile, through the founding kingdoms of Uganda, and into the various tribedoms of Kenya, where ethnicity is no longer quite the unambiguous source of pride it once was. Or was it?
“What has tribe ever done for women?” demanded Philo Ikonya, the poet, almost-politician, and spokesperson for the kingdom of Woman, during the Q & A afterwards. I raised my head above the tabletops to listen better. “Why should I take pride in a community that expects me to stay in the kitchen?”
Bantu Mwaura, dreadlocked theatre artist and another of the night’s presenters, sprang to the defense of his black Nilot brothers. “Patriarchy was introduced by the white man,” he announced. “Until they came we were all very matriarchal.”
I sank back out of sight and let Rasna Warah take over with an explanation of the origins, not of her people, but her newly published anthology, Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits. Warah, a columnist for the Daily Nation and 17-year veteran of the development world, described how she realized, about five years ago, that aid work in Africa was: 1) part do-good morality play (‘missionaries’), 2) part cold-blooded capitalism (‘mercenaries’); and 3) completely out of touch with reality (misfit). Good for nothing, in other words, except the consciences and bank accounts of its architects.
“Damn,” whispered the German lady hiding under the table next to me, “it took her twelve years to figure that out?”
A fitting irony to close the night on – this denigration of NGOs, the United Nations, and all western-origin development projects, at an event sponsored by those very institutions. But last night’s Salon was only the beginning; plenty of time and opportunity in the Litfest ahead for the sparring to continue, and the one thing we can count on is that it will.
Arno Kopecky is an editor at Kwani?
