KIE Picks River and The Source as new KCSE set book

Out goes Prof Ngugi wa Thiong'o's The River Between and in comes The River and the Source by Dr Margaret Ogola.
The Kenya Institute of Education has picked the late Ogola's family saga as the new Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education set book to be studied in schools for the next five years.
Also making a comeback to the secondary education curriculum is Prof Francis Imbuga's play, Betrayal in the City, which was a set book in the late 1980s.The play is a story about how a university student, Jasper Wendo, helped topple an African dictator in a bloodless coup following the killing of his brother, Jere.
This is the second time that the institute, which determines the national curriculum has used Dr Ogola's novel and the third that is using Prof Imbuga's play as set books. The first time that the novel was studied was between 1998 and 2001. The book, published by Focus Books in 1994, won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 1995 and the Commonwealth Writers' (Africa Region) Best First Book prize the same year.
The author died of cancer in September, 2011, the same month as the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laurette and fellow countrywoman Wangari Maathai.
The school edition of Prof Ngugi's book was published by East African Educational Publishers five years ago. The original novel by the same title was published by Heinemman in 1965 under the African Writers Series pioneered by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe's whose ground-breaking novel, Things Fall Apart, has also been a set book twice in the Kenyan curriculum, the latest being between 1988 and 1991. The school edition was re-edited to make it conform with changing cultural and education realities, including re-writing the sections on female circumcision, also commonly referred to as female genital mutilation.

Dr Ogola's novel is a story of three generations of women from the same family and traces their journeys through life at different stages of Kenya's history and how they confronted the challenges of their time, from lack of education to living with HIV. Dr Ogola was a pediatrician at the Kenyatta National Hospital. 
Also picked by KIE this year is Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle to be studied under "Plays from the rest of the world category". The school edition of the book is published by Target Publications. Wikipedia describes the play as "a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than its natural parents".
Brecht, who was born in Germany in 1898, wrote play in 1944 while he was living in the US. He died in August 1956.
Target is publishing the play under license from Penguin Books. The publisher's swahili book, Kidagaa Kimemwozea, by Prof Ken Walibora, was also picked in the Kiswahili category. Prof Walibora teaches in the US.
Kidagaa Kimemwozea replaces Utengano (authored by Prof Said Ahmed and published by Longhorn) while Caucasian Chalk Circle replaces EAEP's An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen.
Betrayal in the City, meanwhile, replaces John Ruganda's Shreds of Tenderness, which was published by the Oxford University Press, Kenya.
The new books will be taught and examined alongside Witi Ihimaera's novel, The Whale Rider, which was selected last year. Prof Ngugi's book was to have been replaced at the same time but the decision was deferred until this year.
According to the New Zealand Book Council, Ihimaera, 68, is the first Maori writer to publish short stories and a novel. His book has been described as "a magical, mythical work about a young girl whose relationship with a whale ensures the salvation of her village.

Haruki Murakami's 'A Wild Sheep Chase' creates magical world

Can a woman have such beautiful ears that she has to keep them hidden away to live a normal life? Can a sheep with a mark of the red star occupy the souls of men and spur them to reach great heights in their society? Can the search for this sheep change a man’s fortunes so much that he has to close down his business, lose his girlfriend and make so much money all in a space of a month? And what secret does a man simply known as “The Rat” hold that could unlock the mystery of the sheep?
These are the questions that jump to mind on reading Haruki Murakami’s novel, A Wild Sheep Chase.
Yet, the novel — first published in 1982 in Tokyo as Hitsujio Meguru Boken — is hard to place. Is it a mythology? There are flashes of mythology running throughout the otherwise modern urban narrative. Is it a detective story? But the unnamed protagonist is not a detective. He is just another bored, hard-smoking small-time PR executive until a mysterious man walks into his office and gives him the seemingly impossible assignment to go on a wild sheep chase in the hills of Hokaido, Japan. Is the book a romance? It cannot be because the main character is a self-obsessed man who is more contended chasing the wild thoughts coursing through his mind than he is in winning over the hearts of the women in his life, including the part-time call girl-cum-editor with the beautiful ears.
Some critics have described it as a comic and in the final analysis it is an engrossing book to read and may be that is all that matters.
It is interesting that the novel — despite having been written thirty years ago — has this year been occupying prominent display positions in European bookshelves. Is it because Murakami, the author, is enjoying a renaissance or is it because he also wrote the much-acclaimed IQ84, which was published in three volumes, the first of which came out in 2009 and the last in 2010?
In one of the blurbs on the cover, a reviewer from the Sunday Herald says: “Murakami is a true original and yet in many ways he is also like Franz Kafka’s successor because he seems to have the intelligence to know what Kafka truly was — a comic writer”.
Murakami originally writes in Japanese and his books have been translated into English, with A Wild Sheep Chase being first published in the UK in 2000 (by Havill Press) and later by Vintage in 2003.
According to Wikipedia, the first edition of IQ84 — a tome in its own right — was sold out on the first day and went on to sell a million copies in the first month of publication. This, then, vindicates the renewed interest in his earlier works, including A Wild Sheep Chase.
The New York Times Book review rightly notes that “there isn’t a kimono to be found in A Wild Sheep Chase. Its main characters, men and women, wear Levis.”
Indeed, were it not that the plot is set in Tokyo and a remote village Hokaido, this is a story that could have been set anywhere, even the windy hills of Mau where it is not uncommon to find sheep grazing in the undulating grasslands that were once forests. And this underlines Murakami’s reputation as an international writer.

Nairobi Book Fair coming up next week

It is that time of the year again!
Book lovers, book sellers and book buyers can mark their calenders because from Tuesday, September 25, the Sarit Centre mall in Nairobi will be hosting the 15th edition of the Nairobi International Book Fair. The theme for this year will be "Education and Peace" and it is not difficult to see why. Kenya is still feeling the bitter after-taste of the 2007 post-election violence in which hundreds of people were killed and over 650,000 displaced from their homes in three months of fighting after the results of the 2007 general election were disputed. Since then, there has been a concerted campaign to re-unite the divided nation through national healing and reconciliation campaigns while some of the leaders believed to have borne the greatest responsibility for the fighting have been taken to the International Criminal Court to stand trial. The case opens in April next year, just one month after the next general election.
What this means is that there is need to keep the peace campaigns going to ensure that violence does not recur next year and to foster national harmony even as the country enters a critical election campaign period. As such, the choice of the theme for this year's fair could not have been more appropriate.
Over the years, the stature of the fair has been growing considerable and if trends are anything to go by, soon it will be time for the organisers to find a bigger venue to accommodate the ever-growing number of visitors.
One of the highlights of the fair, of course, remains the awarding of the biennial Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize on the evening of September 29. This year, three books have been shortlisted for the fourth edition of the award named after satirist and columnist Wahome Mutahi who died nine years ago.
Ng'ang'a Mbugua's Different Colours is one of the shortlisted titles. The others are The Eye of the Storm by veteran columnist and surgeon Yusuf Dawood and David Mulwa's We Come in Peace.
Readers might remember that Ng'ang'a Mbugua's novella, Terrorists of the Aberdare, won the third edition of the prize and if he bags it this year, he will be the first Kenyan writer to bag the prize back to back.
Interestingly, though the award is meant for fiction from Kenya, authors from Tanzania have been submitting for the Kiswahili category of the Prize, an indication that the Kenya Publishers Association, which sponsors the award, might need to make the prize regional in coming years.
Tens of exhibitors, from Kenya and other countries from Africa and Asia are expected to showcase their books and other publications, e-readers and other technological gadgets that are transforming the way readers are interacting with books.
Of course, Big Books Ltd will be there too and the highlight of their stand will be its latest publication, The Wisdom of Steve Jobs, which gives readers congealed tips on business management and leadership that they can use to grow their own enterprises or excel in their careers. The publisher, whose titles are now available in e-book versions, will also be presenting e-readers to help potential readers familiarise themselves with the gadgets that will shape the future of reading.
See you at the fair. And spread the word.

Let there be poetry: Anthology celebrates beauty

Going by the Greek root of the word — poie-ma — a poem denotes something that is created. Often, poetry sprouts from the humblest of creative soils, but blossoms into something bigger than its creator, assuming a life of its own, deciding its own destiny in a universe replete with a multiplicity of other created things.
 And this is what happened to Heart to Heart, the anthology of reflective poetry published by Daystar University’s Centre for Research, Publications and Consultancy.
In his foreword to the anthology which features seven poets, former Daystar University Vice-Chancellor Godfrey Nguru said the seed of the book was planted one day as he sat listening to a poem on environmental conservation.
After listening to the poem by Purity Kiambi — a lecturer and writer — the don challenged her to get it published. And, as fate would have it, the seed of a book was sawn.
The anthology is divided into seven themes, from nature and society to politics, from celebrations of life and friendship to contemplation of death and dying.  As creators, poets can play God. Poems are, after all, the fruit of their imaginations. It is within their power to say: “Let there be beauty” and this comes to pass. But, and this is also significant, poets also play man. By feeling the pain of humanity, by speaking about the things that make them sing and make them weep, poets can reach to the heart of the things that drive humanity and yank from it the subtle truths that make the rest of us sit and ponder about the meaning of life.
This duality permeates the anthology edited by Larry Ndivo and Miriam Maranga Musonye. Some of the poems are frail to the point of being fragile. Some, like Don Awene’s Write me a Poem, are, to borrow his own words, “a gentle odyssey of the mind, to a gentler world of sparkling springs”. Others are bold and have the audacity of eagles, soaring high, giving the reader unrivalled perspectives on life and living, like Musonye’s celebration of the desert.
Endless spread of sand
Hot, dry and barren
From what inner well
Does your oasis spring?
The poets  are bound by a simple thread: All are working or have worked at Daystar University. But that is where their similarities end, regardless of whether one is examining their themes, style or career paths, except may be if you delve into the unpretentious simplicity of their verse. Like freshly picked berries, their poems are easy to digest. Once every often, the trained eye will stumble on the oddly flat word or phrase that stands out from the creative tapestry like a dry twig in a green patch. But then again would creation be complete without such?

Sex sells: Fifty Shades of Gray sparks heated exchanges

Well, well, well!
It appears that many readers across the globe are talking about E.L. James' novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, which is part of a trilogy that have become a best-seller and a hot subject of discussion.
In Kenya, the book continues to raise steamy debate. Women talk about it in lifts, with the drift of the argument being that it is a book for women. Really? I thought the main - and dominant - character is a man! Or am I missing something?
Oh!, so now there are books for women? What if a man was to write a racy book and say, well, for argument's sake, that it is only meant for men? Would that not rub someone the wrong way (no pun intended)?
Two writers from the Business Daily, had a go at the book. Their thoughts are published here.

Creative writer speaks on self-publishing

Recently, www.Biasharasme.co.ke interviewed writer Ng'ang'a Mbugua, on the challenges and opportunities of self-publishing.
For the full interview, click here.
Ng'ang'a's novella, Terrorists of the Aberdare, is now available on kobo. His other works,  Different Colours, A Novel and The Wisdom of Steve Jobs, a motivational book, will also be available in e-book format in coming weeks. 

Authors launch book on Somalia

The book cover

Somalia has since 1994 been considered as the problem child of Africa because the country has never known peace since the exit of Siad Barre from power, an eventuality that plunged the horn of Africa nation into lawlessness that persists to date.
However, in recent months, the discourse on Somalia has changed dramatically, with positive news coming from the land that has achieved notoriety on account of its pirates who wangled billions of dollars from shipping lines and governments in ransoms for captured ships and crew.
Only a few weeks ago, world leaders met to discuss the fate of Somalia while Turkey in particular, has been keen to use soft diplomacy to lure the country back into the fold of the community of nations.
Somalis have not been left behind in this discourse and in recent months, they have produced films celebrating peace in Mogadishu while its painters have hosted exhibitions on peace and rejuvenation of their country even as AMISOM soldiers fight with al-Shabaab militias for control of the country.
Now, a new book of photographic images has been published to celebrate the landscape of a country that has been raped by war and wanton destruction of the environment in the pursuit of quick gains from charcoal export which has left the land bare as Somalia exports its black jewels to Arab countries. But more importantly, the book raises awareness about some of the good things that are happening in Somalia and which are yet to find space in the international media which is paying more attention to the pirates and terror groups that control swathes of the vast country and its ocean.
The book by Fatima Jibrell and James Lindsay was launched at the Goethe Institut in Nairobi on Tuesday evening to a packed hall and amid tight security following recent explosive attacks in the city that left at least one person dead and tens injured.
Peace and Milk, Scenes on Northern Somalia, was, according to James, who was at the launch, meant to create a positive image about Somalia to the rest of the world. But it also chronicled the days he and Fatima spent traversing northern Somalia, sometimes in searing heat. More importantly, it makes a case for cooking using solar energy which is both cheaper than wood and charcoal but could also turn out to be more economically viable on a large scale if, as James put it, Somalia can learn to trade the energy savings for carbon credits from the world's leading polluters.
The book, which is available in Nairobi at Bookstop, Yaya Centre, costs Sh1,500 (about $18) and has an accompanying DVD on the adverse effects of the multi-million shilling trade in charcoal on the fragile environment of the largely desert country.
The book has a sub-title derived from the way of greeting of the Somali people; Nabad Iyo Caano, which loosely means, peace and milk, apparently the commodities with the highest currency in Somalia, where many of the people keep livestock, including camel and goats. According to the authors, when Somalis meet, they ask each other: "Ma nabad baa?" (Is there peace) and the usual answer is likely to be "Nabad iyo Caano" (Peace and Milk)

One of the authors at the book signing at Goethe Institut, Nairobi, on Tuesday.