Kwani? 01

kwani? 01 is a creative writing journal with photography, cartoons and graphic short stories. Published in Kenya in 2003, it is the first of a series of annual publications by Kwani Trust. Founder Editor Binyavanga Wainaina won Africa’s largest writing prize, the Caine Prize for African Writing, in 2002, with his story, Discovering Home. For the first time in the history of the prize, the judges’ decision was unanimous. Kwani? 01 launched a renewed interest in the reading of local materials by Kenyans and international readers. It showcases various aspects of creative energies that seem to have been dormant in Kenya in the 1990s, hailing the emergence of a new post-independence generation. Kwani? garnered immediate international interest when one of the stories, Weight of Whispers by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, won the Caine Prize for African Writing, 2003; the first time for a country to have won the prize for two consecutive years.