Is Anyone Reading In Kenya?
Written by Kwani · October 28, 2008
“There are over 36 million people in Kenya most of whom can read and write.Despite this analysts there say that the country doesn’t have a significant reading culture.Top writers in Kenya are trying to change this.”
The Reuters African Journal recently did a feature on this year’s Kwani? Litfest.Click here to watch the video.
On two recent visits to Kenya, I was amazed at the reading ability of the kids, especially in Nairobi. I would happily say that all the kids I met could read English better than their counterparts in the UK!
Seeing a 7 year-old reading the Daily Nation – and understanding it was a real, peasant surprise to me.
Furthermore, by the time they are 11, most kids in the Naiorobi area speak better, grammatically correct than their UK peers.
The reality of the matter is that most Kenyans rarely read and if they do, its newspaper headlines or restaurant menus…there is a lot to be done and since we cant teach old dogs new tricks, i think we should start with our children, establish a reading culture while not giving up on the older generation altogether.
I like what you are doing, Kwani Litfest has created an Oasis in this so-called literary desert and sure enough, i believe together we can ‘un-desertificate it..if such a thing exists.
I work with Kenya National Library Services and i concur with Boyfulani.It is the reality(ask me),Kenyans rarely read and if they do…….its exam time.It pains me that we do actually walk into the library to mutilate and worse steal the books.
The reading culture is slowly dying and what Kwani is doing is a worthwhile venture.
Lets encourage a reading culture among the young ones.Sounds more like fun……………………I have them sorrounding me and my vision 2010 is to have gone thru the current book stock.
Tall order.Nah.Step right up and join me(SMILE)
We cannot say we do not have a reading culture especially after the reception of bestsellers like Harry potter and Da Vinci Code. Its just misplaced readership thats the problem. People do not want to read Kwani unless the whole world is talking about Kwani so most good books pass unnoticed. i love reading and belive that if we publicize books, good marketing and reduce the cost (I buy at black markets because bookshops are above my league), then well get more Kenyans reading.
If people want to read, then they should read for the whole reading experience. For the appreciation of a good piece of writing, for one’s own pleasure and litteral satisfaction, for the digestion of the story or the message being put across or simply to gain knowledge or information.
In short, true readers or a reader for that matter, is he who reads things because he wants to and not because the world is talking about it, good or bad pieces, how would you know before you read it? Readers search for books to read, books never search for you. Ironically, i wouldn’t call myself a reader but i would like to change that.
I think it is a hasty generalization to say that there is no reading culture in Kenya as we have mostly heard.
Just because few people do not read does not mean that the entire population in Kenya does not. There are plenty of book vendors who make a lot of money selling books to Kenyans who can afford them.
Is anyone reading in Kenya? Yes, plenty of people are reading, question is are Kenyans reading because they have to or is it to gain knowledge, to listen to the vioce of the writer, to expand their imagination and more so are they reading the right kind of literature?
Kenyans read; not as much as ‘everyone’ would want them to or what ‘one’ would want them to, but read they do! What has sustained the bookstores, the open air book vendors and hawkers (even of second hand books!), the publishing companies, the commercial libraries (some of them in what we call ‘exhibitions’), etc? Reading Kenyans!
People do read just that they do not overdo it. I prefer reading in the comfort of my own house rather than walking around with a book like it was in the old days. My friends subscribe to the same mentality.
my heart goes out to the emerging generation. they are so bombarded with technological gadgets thats it takes more discipline for a youth to read outside the school curriculum than does an adult. however, some very encouraging news is that when encouraged, students can develop the culture. sometimes i do sell second hand books in school after a speaking engagement @150 each and manage to fetch 15,000kshs!
last year we collected info that the “John Carson” titles are the most widely read among teens in high schools probably because they are the only titles that have been sold out to them. i hope to see the growth of reading book clubs in our schools again