Kenya

Kenya: News, Stories and Analysis.

Protest Kenya

Kenya’s Season of Protests

Earlier this year, a new young generation of Kenyans went out to protest a crippling finance bill and a government that is undermining their future. The protests, though met by brutal state violence, have fundamentally shifted the Kenyan political landscape.
Dennis Mugaa

‘I Hope That My Work Will Never Side with the Oppressor’ Dennis Mugaa’s First Draft

Kenyan writer and author of Half Portraits Under Water, Dennis Mugaa, believes that President William Ruto’s administration is authoritarian: ‘Young people genuinely want a better country, but we are living in a country that has been slowly sliding into authoritarianism over the past two years, since President Ruto’s government took over. Beyond that, his leadership has been very poor.’
Carey Baraka

‘Gossip Is at the Heart of Any Good Story’ Carey Baraka’s First Draft

Author of ‘Remembering Kampala’, Carey Baraka, says the most common misconception about East African literature is that South Sudanese author and critic, Taban Lo Liyong, called the region a literary desert: ‘It is funny that East African writers continue to write against Lo Liyong, insisting that he is wrong, when what people are fighting doesn’t actually exist.’
Nairobi

Nairobi in a Song A Boy, His Father, and Old Tunes

‘To Kenyans, 2023 feels like the year the country dies. But within this Rhumba and Jazz establishment in Nairobi’s Tao, it could as well be 1970,’ Ogwa writes. ‘Perched behind a corner table with two cold bottles of beer sweating before me, I pass a quintessential moment, watching folks of all ages waltz elegantly to Cabo Verde Barefoot Diva, Cesária Évora’s “Partida”... For me, old music is not just entertainment, it’s a compass with which I always find my way back to me.’
Muthoni Muiruri

‘I Love Books That Evoke an Emotional Reaction in Me’ Muthoni Muiruri’s First Draft

Kenyan publisher and co-founder of Soma Nami Books, Muthoni Muiruri, loves to read books that are intellectually stimulating and evoke an emotional reaction: ‘If a book makes me cry and teaches me empathy; if the characters stay with me long after reading, I consider that a forever book. I am also extremely grateful for books that teach me something, that challenge me and force me to reckon with my ignorance and biases and that compel me to want to research and learn.’