In a recent interview with NPR, the Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina—best known for his essay “I am a Homosexual, Mum,” published on Africa Is a Country on January 19th — reflected on why he chose not to disclose his sexuality in his 2011 memoir One Day I Will Write About This Place. At the time, he felt his “language was not ready or lyrical enough” to write openly about being gay.

When asked why, despite his media experience, he decided to come out in the way he did—through simultaneous publication on the Cape Town arts website and magazine, Chimurenga, and Africa Is a Country, alongside a six-part YouTube series titled “What I Have to Say About Being Gay”—Wainaina explained:

I’m a writer and an imaginative person. I knew from my experience with the media that it tends to reduce complex issues into quick, digestible soundbites. In the middle of what is often described as Africa’s ‘homophobia crisis,’ I wanted to speak differently. How do you capture all of that nuance in just 17 seconds?

For Wainaina, the format and platform mattered as much as the message:

I didn’t want this to appear in The New Yorker or some foreign magazine. I wanted to share it in spaces that would spark conversation among Africans. I wanted the announcement to be accessible, to feel like ours, not just another report to the West about how homophobic Africans are. My goal was to encourage dialogue, not judgment.

His decision had the effect he hoped for. The revelation generated significant debate across the continent, but also, as he recalled, “a huge amount of love and support,” with messages of solidarity continuing to pour in for months afterward.

Listen here.