Friday, March 22nd, 2013
By Mukoma Wa Ngugi “Sir, I am very happy to finally meet you in person – I have read all your books,” a man gushed to my father, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o at the Jomo Kenyatta Airport, Nairobi....
Friday, March 22nd, 2013
Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered. As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. – Things Fall Apart. It is not a surprise the amount of...
Monday, October 8th, 2012
It is a long time already since the Biafran War (1967-1970) to write a memoir, and it makes me wonder how affective Chinua Achebe’s narrative in The Guardian is to his audience. Achebe’s new book, There Was...
Friday, June 22nd, 2012
Here in London we have been having a lot of trouble with pageants. After the riots last August, the state is hoping that summer plans – the Olympics, the Hackney festival – will be distraction from the...
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Last month the writer Chinua Achebe declined the Nigerian government’s attempt to name him a Commander of the Federal Republic. He had rejected the same award in 2004. Achebe’s main objection then was widespread state corruption. He...