East and Central Africa

Introduction

In line with increasing scholarly interest in the landscapes of postcolonial literary production and the politics of literary awards, perhaps a good place to start introducing this year’s list is with a growing body of work that traces the dynamics and institutions involved in East/African literary production. 2013 saw the publication of Caroline Davis’ Creating Postcolonial Literature: African Writers and British Publishers and Doreen Strauhs’ African Literary NGOs: Power, Politics, and Participation [see General Studies: Regional]. Read alongside each other, the two studies offer a fascinating vantage point from which to view both the histories of literary publishing in East Africa and present developments in the region. Davis’ book features an excellent exploration of the history of Oxford University Press in Africa (including a chapter on its East African branch), of the strategic ways in which OUP navigated both the commercial and cultural imperatives that framed its presence in colonial East Africa, and, most intriguingly, of how it profiled itself to ensure an ongoing presence in post-independent African states. Davis traces the ‘hand-in-glove’ relationship between the British Colonial Office across Africa and British publishers in the early twentieth century, illustrating how publishing supported British imperialism across Africa, due to a shared investment in the English-language teaching agenda, for different reasons: for OUP, this meant a lucrative market for educational publishing while serving the British imperial civilising mission and its emphasis on education. What remains remarkable though, is how OUP managed to retain its strong presence in post-independence Africa, a feat which, for Davis, was made possible by, among other factors, OUP’s self-presentation as a charitable supporter of African literature and scholarship, and not a commercial institution. On her part, Doreen Strauhs offers an engaging portrait of African literary NGOs, chief among these Kwani Trust in Kenya and FEMRITE in Uganda. Given the centrality of these two literary NGOs in the region’s literary landscape, Strauhs’ study is a welcome opportunity not only to trace the transnational networks that have mediated literary production in the region for more than six decades, but also to make sense of the complex range of institutions, social capital, patronage networks and innovative collaborative initiatives that facilitate local publishing platforms. In her attentive reading of the two landmark literary NGOs, Strauhs excavates the complex layers of East African literary histories by tracing the exciting flows of ideas across the intellectual nodes of Kampala, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Ibadan and others.

Still on publishing and, particularly the related question of literary awards, three scholarly reflections are worth mentioning here as part of the current debate on the publishing landscape in the region: Tanzanian publisher Walter Bgoya of Mkuki na Nyota Publishers teams up with Mary Jay to meditate on the intricacies of publishing in Africa, in their essay “Publishing Africa: From Independence to the Present Day” [see General Studies: Regional]. Elsewhere, Samantha Pinto and Lizzy Attree grapple with the relationship between the Caine Prize for African Writing and literary production and canonisation in the region, in their respective essays “The Caine Prize and the Impossibility of ‘New’ African Writing” and “The Caine Prize and Contemporary African Writing.” These debates on literary prizes and the mediation of contemporary African literature were, in a sense, to be expected and perhaps welcome, insofar as they spotlight the intricacies of literary taste formation, all the more intriguing for contemporary African writing, given its double wrestle with histories of misrepresentation on one hand, and the reality of limited institutions and structures that support literary publishing as a viable artistic and career venture on the other.

Perhaps it is this ongoing wrestling with a history of misrepresentation embodied in the persistent stereotypes of Africa/ns as haunted by the trio of disease, war and poverty that makes the increasing prominence of Anglo-American fiction set in East Africa an ironic yet noteworthy phenomenon. The region appears to be a popular literary destination for writers keen to set their fiction in Africa. What is notable here is the clear pattern of a recurrently stereotypical canvas that forms the backdrop against which these narratives unfold. Much of this fiction takes the form of what I loosely term “volunteer tourism romance”, with the ubiquitous motif of humanitarian service in slums, orphanages and refugee camps in East Africa, where the protagonists – on the run from heartbreak, broken marriages or purposeless lives – appear to find love and healing in the region. In Edward Hoagland’s Children Are Diamonds [see Fiction: Kenya], Hickey, an American teacher, travels to East Africa as an aid worker and finds love in the process of working for a Nairobi-based aid agency where he delivers food and medical supplies to war-torn Southern Sudan. Jane Perrine’s The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek [see Fiction: Kenya] is a love story about Hannah, a medical doctor newly back in the US after two-years of work in Kenya’s refugee camps. Upon her return, she struggles to recover from a bout of malaria coupled with the horrific memories of what she saw in the refugee camps. She finds love in Gabe Borden, her nephew’s basketball coach.

Another growing sub-genre on this year’s list is the thriller novel; most of these writings feature implicit allusions to actual historical events in the region. Among these are Mukoma wa Ngugi’s Killing Sahara [see Fiction: Kenya], a sequel to his earlier novel, Nairobi Heat. In this novel, the two detectives Odhiambo and Ishmael Fofona attempt to uncover the links between a body found in the Ngong Forest, outside Nairobi, and a bomb explosion in a prominent hotel in the city. The novel’s allusion to a body found in Ngong Forest evokes the actual case of the 1975 murder of JM Kariuki, a cabinet minister whose body was found in Ngong Forest. The novel also taps into the familiar tropes of terror attacks in Kenya and the 2007/8 post-election violence. A similar interweaving of history and fiction is evident in Yvonne Owuor’s debut novel Dust [see Fiction: Kenya], which is an ambitious and poetic revisiting of key fragments of Kenyan history. Dust opens with a murder on the streets of Nairobi in 2007 and then journeys back into various moments in Kenyan history, including a nod to another high profile Kenyan assassination: the 1969 murder of the Kenyan politician Tom Mboya. Caroline Overington’s No Place Like Home [see Fiction: Tanzania] depicts a suicide bomber’s hostage situation in a shopping mall in Tanzania, which brings to mind the so-called West Gate Mall hostage attack and hostage situation in Kenya in September 2013.

The Uganda monarchy, like the Mau Mau in Kenya, continue to be regular preoccupations in the region’s literature. This year’s list features two entries on Sir Edward Muteesa, the king of the Buganda kingdom: Godfrey Nsubuga’s Sir Edward Frederick Muteesa: His Life and Politics [see Auto/Biographies: Uganda], A. B. Kasozi and Edward Kaggwa’s The Bitter Bread of Exile: The Financial Problems of Sir Edward Mutesa II during His Final Exile [see Auto/Biographies: Uganda] and a third scholarly entry, A. D. Low’s Fabrication of Empire: The British and the Uganda Kingdoms, 1890 – 1902 [see General studies: Uganda]. Kasozi and Kaggwa’s book is an unusual portrait of a life in its choice to zoom in on the king’s financial affairs while in exile. Yet in light of similar lives of royalty in exile under financial constraints – most recently the case of King Kigeli V of Rwanda – The Bitter Bread of Exile promises insights that go beyond the specificity of the Buganda kingdom. On its part, the Mau Mau question is the subject of a number of titles this year, including Stephen Morton’s States of Emergency: Colonialism, Law and Literature [see General studies: Kenya] which reads literary representations of torture and detention in colonial Kenya, alongside similar narratives of torture in Algeria, India, South Africa, and Palestine and Dedan Kimathi: The Whole Story [see Auto/biographies: Kenya] by veteran journalist and author Joseph Karimi revisiting the life and work of iconic Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi.

This retracing of Kenyan histories is not limited to Mau Mau. In fact, the 1920s – 1950s remain an important preoccupation for many writers of both fiction and life writing, with the Happy Valley motif slowly becoming another East African literary staple. This year, the 1920s-50s feature in Frank Coates’ Echoes from a Distant Land [see Fiction: Kenya]. Set in 1930s Kenya, the novel tells the story of a white English woman who has an illicit affair with a black Kenyan businessman. The couple have twins: a light-skinned daughter and a dark-skinned son. The relationship finally succumbs to pressure from both sides, resulting in a devastating split, with mother and daughter returning to England and son and father staying on in Kenya. Meantime, Juliet Barnes revives the Happy Valley story in The Ghosts of Happy Valley: Searching for the Lost World of Africa’s Infamous Aristocrats [see Auto/biographies: Kenya]. In a similar vein, Beryl Markham’s 1942 memoir, West with the Night [see Auto/biographies: Kenya] has been reissued this year, suggesting a renewed interest in the life and times of the renowned aviator, best remembered as the first woman to fly solo and without stopping across the Atlantic.

One of the unfortunate literary contributions of the region’s histories is the child soldier narrative, which is growing into a literary sub-genre, thanks to the horrors of children’s involvement in conflicts. At the moment, this is a predominantly East and West African trend. On this year’s list, this category is represented by a number of entries, including Opiyo Oloya’s Child to Soldier: Stories from Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army; John Wright’s Ravaged Innocents; and Reggie Whitten and Nancy Henderson’s Sewing Hope: Joseph Kony Tore These Girls’ Lives Apart, Can She Stitch Them back Together? [see Auto/biographies: Uganda]. That the abduction of children in contexts of war is fast becoming a ubiquitous trend in conflicts across the continent is a chilling fact that regularly makes news in relation to child soldiers in the on-going Great Lakes region’s conflicts, and perhaps most notably, with the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls by the Boko Haram group in Nigeria in April 2014. Still on the question of narratives of conflicts in the region, Kenya and Uganda inevitably feature in a growing body of memoirs by survivors of the Rwanda genocide represented on this list by Casimir Ruzindaza’s The Fascinating Story of Kibeho: Mary’s Prophetic Tears in Rwanda and Josi Marie’s Pieces of Me: Made in Rwanda, Broken in New York [see Auto/Biographies: Uganda]. This year’s list also signals a growing literary interest in the other face of the Indian Ocean and its links to continental East Africa: the question of Somali piracy, the al-Shabab organisation and the Somali refugee camps in Kenya. Quite apart from the earlier-mentioned romance narratives set in orphanages and refugee camps, three titles here, capture the chilling dynamics of the Somali question in the region: Alex Berenson’s The Night Ranger [see Fiction: Kenya] a fictional portrait of the kidnapping of four friends working at a refugee camp for Somalis in Kenya; Jessica Buchannan’s Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six and Judith Tebutt’s A Long Walk Home: One Woman’s Story of Kidnap, Hostage, Loss and Survival [see Auto/Biographies: Kenya]. These works recount the experiences of women who survived being kidnapped and held hostage. That the Al-Shabab group continues to carry out regular attacks in the region is a sobering reminder of the sense of helplessness and a lack of clear strategies on how to confront the problem of terrorism.

On a less harrowing note, the list features a number of texts which address themselves to unique histories and socio-cultural aspects of the region. Among these is Shlomo Avineri and Haim Watzman’s Herzl: Theodore Herzl and the Foundation of the Jewish State [see Auto/Biographies: Uganda]. As the title suggests, this book traces Herzl’s pursuit of an independent Jewish state. His efforts were central to securing the British government’s support in facilitating a large Jewish settlement in Uganda. Will Jackson’s Madness and Marginality: The Lives of Kenya’s White Insane [see Auto/Biographies: Kenya] narrates yet another under-explored fragment of the region’s histories: how the Kenya colony treated figures who “transgressed” from the trendy script of the white hunter and the pioneer farmers and instead embodied what was deemed deviant, shameful and scandalous behaviour that was considered a threat to the preferred grand narratives of the colony. Lastly, Mbugua wa Mungai’s seminal work on masculinities and the narratives that underpin the Matatu (public service vehicles) is the subject of his book Nairobi’s Matatumen: Portrait of a Subculture [see General studies: Kenya].

Other noteworthy trends this year include several entries on oral literature in the region, such as Anika Wilson’s Folklore, Gender and Aids in Malawi: No Secret Under the Sun [see General studies: Malawi]; Fargion Topp’s Taarab Music in Zanzibar in the Twentieth Century [see General Studies: Tanzania]; Aaron Mushengyezi’s Oral Literature for Children: Rethinking Orality, Literacy, Performance and Documentation Studies [see General studies: Uganda] and Dominc Dipio and Stuart Sillars’ Performing Wisdom: Proverbial Lore in Modern Ugandan Society [see General studies: Uganda]. Explorations of Asian East African writing remain a regular feature in the region’s scholarship, gradually consolidating itself into a distinct research focus. Notable in this respect on this year’s list is Dan Ojwang’s Reading Migration and Culture: The World of East African Indian Literature [see General studies: Regional] and Juma Muzzafar Khan’s From the Land of Pashtuns to the Land of the Maa: A Tribute to Some of the Early Indian Immigrants to Kenya [see Auto/Biographies: Kenya].

Given the increasing notoriety of Uganda and Malawi (alongside Nigeria) in debates around homophobia and the rights of sexual minorities, the entries in this year’s list that variously reflect on queer sexuality are important interventions in debates on sexual violence, human rights and homophobia. Among these are Keguro Macharia’s essay “Blogging Queer Kenya” [see General studies: Kenya]; Dan Ojwang’s chapter “Gender, Sexuality and Community” which offers a queer reading of Shailja Patel’s Migritude and Shiraz Dhalla’s Ode to Lata [see General studies: Regional]; and Kevin Mwachiro’s Invisible: Stories from Kenya’s Queer Community [see Auto/Biographies: Kenya].

Poetry and drama continue to be under-represented but three noteworthy entries on this year’s list are all authored by veteran writers and playwrights from the region. Austin Bukenya’s A Hole in the Sky [see Drama: Uganda] is a remarkable and timely ecocritical engagement with the impacts of environmental degradation in contexts that prioritize commercial interests over ordinary people’s livelihoods and environmental sustainability. The play’s implicit commentary on contemporary Ugandan debates on the discovery of oil in Lake Albert and the attempts to convert a large chunk of Mabira forest into a sugar plantation make it an urgent and timely intervention in environmental debates in Uganda. Francis Imbuga’s The Green Cross of Kafira [see Drama: Kenya], published posthumously, completes the playwright’s trilogy which started with Betrayal in the City (1976) and Man of Kafira (1984). Here, Imbuga revisits the theme of the trouble with Africa, to borrow Chinua Achebe’s apt phrase. The play grapples with state power, political assassinations, the implications of a poor educational system and overall failures of leadership as some of the pitfalls that continue to haunt post-independent Kenya and, broadly, Africa, close to half a century after flag independence. Lastly, we have Said Ahmed Said’s He Is Far Too Much [see Drama: Tanzania], a translation from the popular Kiswahili play Amezidi (1995), which also examines the crises that haunt African societies and continue to sabotage their potential.

The bibliography features a special issue of English Studies in Africa dedicated to the work and thought of the Tanzanian writer and academic Abulrazak Gurnah. This is an excellent and overdue collection of essays which convenes provocative conversations about Gurnah’s oeuvre that will hopefully pave the way for further critical collections dedicated to the work of one of the most important and prolific writers to come from the region.

Overall, the 2013 list shows an interesting combination of reanimations of previous concerns and an equally dynamic exploration of new issues that preoccupy writers and scholars of the region.

Bibliography: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi

Poetry

Kenya

Mukasa, Chris An Anthology of Poems: The Power of Words 196pp KePoLo (Nairobi).

Uganda

Kirunda, Christopher W. N. Voice of Silence: Poems 87pp Fountain Pub (Kampala).

Drama

Kenya

Bukenya, Austin A Hole in the Sky 112pp Oxford UP (Nairobi).

Imbuga, F. D. The Green Cross of Kafira 53pp Bookmark Africa (Nairobi).

Mohamed, Said A, Sara Weschler, and Niwaeli Kimambo He’s Far Too Much 84pp The Sheep Meadow Press (New York).

Fiction

Regional

Caine Prize A Memory This Size and Other Stories 320pp Jacana Media (Auckland Park, South Africa).

Patterson, J. H. The Man-Eaters of Tsavo and Other East African Adventures 346pp Skyhorse (New York).

Kenya

Berenson, Alex The Night Ranger 387pp GP Putnams (New York).

Coates, Frank Tears of the Maasai 532pp HarperCollins Publishers (Sydney) [2012].

— Echoes from a Distant Land 650pp HarperCollins (Sydney).

— Beyond Mombasa 569pp HarperCollins (Pymble).

Cloyed, Deborah What Tears Us Apart 315pp Harlequin MIRA (Don Mills, Ont., Canada).

Crompton, Richard Hour of the Red God Sarah Crichton Books; Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York).

— The Honey Guide 309pp Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London).

Crystal, Richard A Rein Supreme 263pp Premier Digital (UK).

Ehsani, Vered Fatal Secrets: A Ghost Post Mystery 162pp V Ehsani (Kenya).

Eldon, Kathy In the Heart of Life: A Memoir 372pp HarperOne (New York).

Everard, Colin The House in Vienna 298pp Matador (Beauchamp).

Gault, Ewan The Most Distant Way 200pp Holland House (Newbury).

Harrison, Sarah A Flower That’s Free Orion 767pp (London) [1984].

Hoagland, Edward Children Are Diamonds: An African Apocalypse: A Novel 232pp Arcade Publishing (New York).

Ikonya, Philo Still Sings the Nightbird 284pp Langaa (Bamenda, Cameroon).

Johnson, Paul Flying Cats and Flip-Flops: Surviving a Notorious African Prison 220pp NoProblemPub (UK).

Jonas, Usenekong My Book of Stories 104pp Dominion Network (Nairobi).

Kaye, M M Death in Kenya 204pp Minotaur (London) [1999].

Kelly, Susie I Wish I Could Say I Was Sorry 289pp Blackbird (London).

Kraus, Harry An Open Heart: A Novel 422pp David C. Cook (Colorado Springs, CO).

Levine, James Bingo’s Run: A Novel 287pp Spiegel & Grau (New York).

Liyong, Taboan Christmas in Lodwar 1979 120pp Kenya Literature Bureau (Nairobi).

Mbugua, Ng’ang’a This Land Is Our Land 56pp Big Books (Nairobi).

Mochama, Tony Nairobi: A Night Guide through the City in the Sun 142pp Goethe Institute; Native Intelligence (Nairobi).

Nyakiongora, Gideon The Tale of Innocent Imani: From Cultural Gems to Political Penury 120pp Cannon (Nairobi).

Old Africa Leopard in the Kitchen and Other Amazing Tales from East Africa 188pp Old Africa (Naivasha).

Osman, Diriye Fairytales for Lost Children 152pp Team Angelica Pub (London).

Otieno, Argwings A Taste of Fame 170pp Kenya Literature Bureau (Nairobi).

Owuor, Yvonne A Dust 369pp Alfred A Knopf (New York).

Pancol, Katherine, William Rodarmor, and Helen Dickinson The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles 434pp Penguin (New York).

Perrine, Jane M. The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek: A Novel 373pp FaithWords (New York).

Raybourn, Deanna A Spear of Summer Grass 370pp Harlequin Mira (Don Mills, Ontario).

Sukhatme-Sheth, Neela K The White Sands of Nyali: A Novel: A Young Physician’s Journey Through Africa 239pp CreateSpace (New York).

Walker, Rebecca Adé: A Love Story 112pp New Harvest (Boston).

Wambui, Wanjiku M The Innocence Predators 252pp Nyinawamu (Nairobi).

wa Ngugi, Muũkoma Black Star Nairobi 268pp Melville House (Brooklyn).

— Killing Sahara 229pp Kwela Books (Cape Town).

Willig, Lauren The Ashford Affair 358pp St. Martin’s Press (New York).

Uganda

John, Pancras O. Amin’s Soldiers: A Caricature of Upper Prison 226ppWaterside Press (Winchester).

Kalimugogo, Godfrey A Sacred Letter of Love: A Novel 169pp VB Press (Kampala).

Nazareth, Peter The General Is Up: A Novel 171pp Saligao (Goa) [1956].

Tanzania

Vassanji, M. G. The Magic of Saida 303pp Doubleday (Toronto) [2012].

Overington, Caroline No Place like Home Random House (Sydney).

Malawi

Banda, Tito Sekani’s Solution 112pp Penpoint Publications (Mzuzu, Malawi).

Auto/biography

Kenya

Aigbe, Samuel Plane Crash Survivor’s Miraculous True Story: Kenya Airways Flight Kq431 112pp Balboa Press International (S.l).

Allan, Susie, and Yenko L. Ole Letilet’s Tales: The Life of a Vanishing Hunter-Gatherer 366pp Shaba Ltd (St Peter Port, Channel Islands).

Alidou, Ousseina Muslim Women in Postcolonial Kenya: Leadership, Representation, and Social Change 225pp University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI).

Anderson, Martin Galana: Elephant, Game Domestication, and Cattle on a Kenya Ranch 106pp Stanford UP (Stanford).

Arensen, Jonathan E The Red Pelican: Life on Africa’s Last Frontier 319pp Old Africa Books (Naivasha, Kenya).

Bamurangirwa, Patricia Rwanda Yesterday 194pp Troubador Publishing (Leicester).

Barnes, Juliet The Ghosts of Happy Valley: Searching for the Lost World of Africa’s Infamous Aristocrats 318pp Aurum (London).

Bennett, Huw C Fighting the Mau Mau: The British Army and Counter-Insurgency in the Kenya Emergency 307pp Cambridge UP (Cambridge, NY).

Berni, Gaetano, and Silvia Orazi Slum Insider: Mathare, Nairobi 92pp Actar (New York).

Buchanan, Jessica, Erik Landemalm and Anthony Flacco Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by Seal Team Six 310pp Atria Books (New York).

Budgor, Mindy Warrior Princess: My Quest to Become the First Female Maasai Warrior 288pp Globe Pequot (Guiliford, Connecticut).

Bwakali, John Coming to Life: Memory and History of Korogocho Youth 69pp Pamoja Trust (Nairobi).

Dago, Ananias L, Johannes Hossfeld, and Franziska Lukas Ananias Léki Dago 104pp Native Intelligence; Goethe Institute (Nairobi).

Dawkins, Richard An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist: a Memoir 308pp HarperCollins (New York).

Dubbeld, Janene A. Adventure with Jesus: A True Missionary Account of Mary Esther Hermiz 50pp Whispering Pines Pub (Shoals, IN).

Ebesugawa, Martina K, and Portal J J Marquez The Trails I Walked at the Foot of Ngong Hills 99pp Mill City Press (Minnesota).

Eldon, Kathy In the Heart of Life: A Memoir 372pp HarperOne (San Francisco).

Erskine, George, Huw C Bennett, and David French The Kenya Papers of General Sir George Erskine, 1953-1955 338pp The History Press for the Army Records Society (Gloucestershire).

Evans, Belinda Promise You Won’t Forget Us: Stories from Africa 320pp Belinda Evans (Clarence Park).

Finn, Adharanand Running with the Kenyans: Discovering the Secrets of the Fastest People on Earth 301pp Faber (London) [2012].

Fitzjohn, Tony Born Wild: The Extraordinary Story of One Man’s Passion for Lions and for Africa 424pp Isis (Oxford).

Gikonyo, Betty M The Girl Who Dared to Dream: An Autobiography 308pp MvuleAfrica (Nairobi).

Gehman, Richard J From Death to Life: The Birth of the Africa Inland Church in Kenya, 1895-1945 360pp Ann C-M Books (Arbor, Mich).

Harper, Jim C Western-educated Elites in Kenya, 1900-1963: The African American Factor 200pp Routledge London [2012].

Hirsi, Ali A Infidel 361pp Atria Paperback (New York) [2008].

Jackson, Will Madness and Marginality: The Lives of Kenya’s White Insane 209pp Manchester UP (Manchester).

Josi, Marie Pieces of Me: Made in Rwanda: Broken in New York City 154pp CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (North Charleston, S.C.).

Karimi, Joseph Dedan Kimathi: The Whole Story 439pp Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (Nairobi).

Kabira, Isaiah Five Decades of Inspired and Inspiring Debate: Mwai Kibaki in Parliament 1963-2013 146pp History Works (Nairobi).

Khan, Muzzafar Juma From the Land of Pashtuns to the Land of the Maa: A Tribute to Some of the Early Indian Immigrants to Kenya 358pp Muzzafar Juma Khan & Asian African Heritage Trust (Nairobi).

Kipng’etich, Julius Do It My Way! Fighting to do the Right Thing: A Transformational Story 272pp Julius Kipng’etich (Nairobi).

Markham, Beryl West with the Night 293pp North Point Press (New York) [1943].

Manji, Salim Kilimanjaro Outward Bound: A True Story of Adventure & Survival 76pp AuthorHouse (Bloomington).

McCall, G JH The Journeyman’s Tale: “a Soldier of Sorts”: “back to Study”: “Afric Maps” 233pp Authors Online (Bedfordshire).

Meikuaya, Wilson, Susan McClelland, and Jackson Ntirkana The Last Maasai Warriors: An Autobiography 180pp Me to We (Toronto).

Meyer, Kathy M Faith Received, Lived, and Given: History of Consolata Missionary Sisters in Kenya (1913-2013) 336pp Paulines Pub (Nairobi).

Miguna, Miguna Kidneys for the King: De-forming the Status Quo in Kenya 369pp Integrity Books Ltd (Ontario, Canada).

Mulunda, Luke Kenya Jubilee Souvenir: Celebrating Kenya@50: 1963-2013 266pp Foresight EA (Nairobi).

Muthuma, Lydia W. Nairobi in Pictures: Political Icons 1899-2000 90pp Focus (Nairobi).

Mutu, Wangechi, Trevor Schoonmaker, Kristine Stiles, and Greg Tate Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey 167pp Duke UP (Durham, NC).

Mwachiro, Kevin Invisible: Stories from Kenya’s Queer Community 149pp Native Intelligence (Nairobi).

NCCK A Century of Ecumenism and Mission: The Story of National Council of Churches of Kenya 1913-2013 128pp NCCK (Nairobi).

Ngali, Mwanyengela Beyond Etiquette: The Story of a Career Diplomat 273pp Phoenix (Nairobi).

Njogu, Nahashon Son: The Untold Story of a Mau Mau Hero 58pp Nahashon Njogu (Muranga, Kenya).

Obama, Auma, and Benjamin Ross And Then Life Happens 342pp St Martins Griffin (New York).

Odinga, Raila A. and Sarah Elderkin Raila Odinga: The Flame of Freedom 992pp MountainTop Pub (Nairobi).

Ooi, Wendy Notes from Kenya: A Missionary’s Experience 159pp Daughters of St Paul (Singapore).

Peifer, Steve, and Gregg Lewis A Dream So Big: Our Unlikely Journey to End the Tears of Hunger 326pp Zondervan (Grand Rapids, Mich).

Root, Alan Ivory, Apes and Peacocks 336pp Chatto & Windus (London) [2012].

Sheldrick, Daphne An African Love Story: Love, Life and Elephants 368pp Viking (London) [2012].

Shimanyula, James B Musalia Mudavadi: Man with a Vision for Kenya 255pp AfricaWide (Nairobi).

Stephens, Robert F Kenyan Student Airlifts to America 1959-1961: An Educational Odyssey 93pp Kenway (Nairobi).

Stutzman, Ellis J, Lori McNulty, and Sharon E Stutzman 2700 Hours in Africa: Managing the Mennonite Guest House in Nairobi 149pp Mennonite Press (Newton, KS).

Tebbutt, Judith, and Richard T. Kelly A Long Walk Home: One Woman’s Story of Kidnap, Hostage, Loss – and Survival 344pp (Faber) London.

Thatiah, Irungu Quest for Liberty: Dr Gikonyo Kiano 284pp Sasa Sema Publications (Nairobi).

Thurow, Roger Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change 295pp Public Affairs (New York).

Wakhungu-Githuku, Susan Aspirations of a Generation 468pp Footprint (Nairobi).

Wilhelmsen, Ingvard I Don’t Eat Blacks!: Herdsboy and Educator: the Life of Richard O. Ondeng 233pp Old Africa Books (Naivasha, Kenya).

Uganda

Adams, Bert N, and Diane Adams An American Family in Amin’s Uganda 167pp Old Africa Books (Naivasha, Kenya).

Avineri, Shlomo, and Haim Watzman Herzl: Theodore Herzl and the Foundation of the Jewish State 274pp Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London).

Blouin, Francis R Called by Name: Isaiah 43:1-7: An Autobiography 68pp Walsh UP (North Canton, OH).

Cline, Lawrence E The Lord’s Resistance Army 226pp Praeger (Westport).

Crothers, Tim The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster 365pp Thorndike Press (Waterville, Me).

Davis, Katie and Beth Clark Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption 280pp Authentic (Milton Keynes) [2012].

Eichstaedt, Peter First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army n.p. Lawrence Hill Books (Chicago).

Howell, Jon P “Idi Amin, President of Uganda” Snapshots of Great Leadership pp233-240 Routledge (New York).

Kakande, Yasin The Ambitious Struggle: An African Journalist’s Journey to Hope and Identity in a Land of Migrants 270pp Florida Academic Press (Gainesville, FL).

Kasozi, A B K and Edward S K Kaggwa The Bitter Bread of Exile: The Financial Problems of Sir Edward Mutesa Ii during His Final Exile, 1966-1969 341pp Progressive (Kampala).

Kawesa, Helen N and Mohammed G Katamba Parliament since 1962: Our Story 144pp Parliament of Uganda (Kampala).

Kearney, Dennis God’s Servant in Uganda 86pp Xulon Press (S.l).

Kirkland, Caroline A Journey through East and South Africa 256pp Routledge (London) [1908].

Low, D. A. Fabrication of Empire: The British and the Uganda Kingdoms, 1890-1902 361pp Cambridge UP (Cambridge).

Lukyamuzi, John K Nature’s Talk to Man: 20 Years of Kabaka Mutebi Ii 237pp MPK Graphics (Kampala).

Nsubuga, Godfrey E N Sir Edward Frederick Muteesa: His Life & Politics 237pp Nissi Pub (Kampala).

— The Person of Dr. Milton Obote: A Classic Personality Study 195pp Nissi Pub (Kampala).

Nteireho, Nick N Chronicles of an African Wanderer 311pp Outskirts Press (Denver, Colorado).

Parris, Jill Life in the Winds of Change 250pp CreateSpace (S.I).

p’Bitek, Okot, G A Heron, and Frank Horley Song of Lawino: Song of Ocol 150pp Waveland Press (Long Grove, IL).

Ruzindaza, Casimir The Fascinating Story of Kibeho: Mary’s Prophetic Tears in Rwanda 320pp Kibeho Sanctuary (Uganda).

Sanders, Lisa, Cathy Bruning, and Blake Sanders 12 Days in Africa: A Mother’s Journey 119pp Westbow Press (Bloomington, IN).

Ssettuuma, Benedict Coming of Age in Priesthood: A Centenary of Indigenous Catholic Priests in Uganda 286pp Angel Agencies (Kampala).

— Uganda at 50, Reflecting on Our Journey Together as a Nation 220pp Angel Press (Kampala).

Thomas, Elizabeth M A Million Years with You: A Memoir of Life Observed 285pp Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Boston).

Oloya, Opiyo Child to Soldier: Stories from Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army 217pp Toronto UP (Toronto).

Osiro, Washington M Wuodha: My Journey from Kenya to These United States 123pp FriesenPress (Victoria, BC).

Whitten, Reggie and Nancy Henderson Sewing Hope: Joseph Kony Tore These Girls’ Lives Apart. Can She Stitch Them Back Together? 236pp Dust Jacket Press (Oklahoma City, OK).

Wright, John. Ravaged Innocents 231pp JoJo Publishing (Docklands, Vic).

Tanzania

Bogaert, Pascal David Mzuguno: The Last Days of the Master 80pp Mkuki na Nyota (Dar es Salaam).

Mazrui, Ali A. A, and Lindah Mhando Julius Nyerere, Africa’s Titan on a Global Stage: Perspectives from Arusha to Obama 390pp Carolina Academic Press (Durham).

Malawi

Barron, Alexandra The Mbabzi story: Celebrating 100 years in Malawi 151pp York Publishing (York, UK).

Longwe, Hany Christians by Grace Baptists by Choice: A History of the Baptist Convention of Malawi 234pp Mzuni Press (Mzuzu, Malawi).

Criticism

General studies

Regional

African Literary NGOs: Power, Politics, and Participation Doreen Strauhs 243pp Palgrave Macmillan (New York).

“The Caine Prize and Contemporary African Writing” Lizzy Attree Research in African Literatures 44(2) pp35-47.

“The Caine Prize and the Impossibility of ‘New’ African Writing” Samantha Pinto Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies 1(1) pp140-152.

“Class Conflict and the Rise of the ‘Proletarian’ Novel in Africa” Jude Aigbe Agho Matatu: Journal for African Culture and Society 12 pp53-64.

Creating Postcolonial Literatures: African Writers and British Publishers Caroline Davis 255pp Palgrave Macmillan (New York).

Contesting Visibility: Photographic Practices on the East African Coast Heike Behrend 265pp Transcript (Bielefeld).

“Familial Cartographies in Contemporary East African Short Stories” Grace A Musila Journal of African Cultural Studies 25(3) pp349-363.

Framing Africa: Portrayals of a Continent in Contemporary Mainstream Cinema ed Nigel Eltringham 183pp Berghan (New York).

Narrating Prison Experience: Human Rights, Self, Society, and Political Incarceration in Africa 121pp Ken Walibora Common Ground Pub (Champaign)

“Publishing Africa: From Independence to the Present Day” Walter Bgoya and Mary Jay Research in African Literatures 44(2) pp17-34.

Queer African Reader eds Hakima Abbas and Sokari Ekine 454pp Pambazuka Press (Dakar, Senegal).

Reading Migration and Culture: The World of East African Indian Literature Dan Ojwang 245pp Palgrave Macmillan (New York).

States of Emergency: Colonialism, Literature and Law Stephen Morton 249pp Liverlool UP (Liverpool).

Kenya

African Flavors: Recipes with Proverbs Annetta Miller 145pp Annetta Miller (Nairobi).

“A Stylistic Analysis of the Language of Kenyan Dramedies” Norah Mose Research on Humanities and Social Sciences 2(22) pp94-113.

Authority Stealing: The Business of Crime Writing in Kenya, India and Nigeria 40pp Akinwumi Adesokan Chronic (Cape Town).

“Blogging Queer Kenya” Keguro Macharia Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies 1(1) pp103-121.

Creating Contemporary African Art: Art Networks in Urban Kenya Margaretta Swigert-Gacheru 282pp Lambert Academic Pub (Saarbrucken).

“The Delight of the Yearner: Ernst May and Erica Mann in Nairobi 1933-1953” Benjamin Tiven Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art 32 pp80-89.

“Fashion, Transnationality and Swahili Men” Tina Mangieri African Dress: Fashion, Agency, Performance pp153-167 Bloomsburg (London).

Kenya: A History Since Independence Charles Hornsby 958pp I.B. Tauris (London) [2012].

Kenyan Music: An Education Perspective Emilly Akuno 160pp Emak (Kisumu).

“Kenyatta’s Lament Oaths and the Transformation of Ritual Ideologies in Colonial Kenya” Journal of Ethnographic Theory 3(3) pp167-193.

Managing Heritage, Making Peace: History, Identity and Memory in Contemporary Kenya Annie E Coombes, Lotte Hughes and Karega Munene 272pp Tauris (London).

“Makmende Amerudi: Kenya’s Collective Reimagining as a Meme of Aspiration” Brian Ekdale and Melissa Tully Critical Studies in Media Communication pp1-16.

“Media Boom in Kenya and Celebrity Galore” Maurice Amutabi Journal of African Cultural Studies 25(1) pp14-29.

Music in Kenyan Christianity: Logooli Religious Song Jean N Kidula 290pp Indiana UP (Bloomington, IN).

Nairobi’s Matatu Men: Portrait of a Subculture Mbugua wa Mungai 254pp Goethe Institute; Native Intelligence; Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (Nairobi).

“Obama Made in Kenya: Appropriating the American Dream in Kogelo” Karin van Bemmel Africa Today 59(4) pp69-90.

“Offended Christians, Anti-Mission Churches and Colonial Politics: One Man’s Story of the Messy Birth of the African Orthodox Church” William J Black Journal of Religion in Africa 43(3) pp261-296.

“Pharma in Africa: Health, Corruption and Contemporary Kenya in The Constant Gardener Daniel Branch Framing Africa: Portrayals of a Continent in Contemporary Mainstream Cinema pp72-91[see this section].

“Political Strictures and Latex Caricatures in Kenya: Butressing ‘Mzee’ Masculinity in the XYZ show” Rashelle Peck Research in African Literatures 44(1) pp146-165.

The Politics of Everyday Life in Gikuyu Popular Music of Kenya: 1990-2000 Maina W Mutonya 172pp Twaweza Communications (Nairobi).

“‘Pwani C Kenya?’: Memory, Documents and Seccessionist Politics in Coastal Kenya” Justin Willis and George Gona African Affairs 112 (446) pp48-71.

“Representations of Kenyan History in Oral Literature 1948-2002” Njogu Waita International Journal of English and Literature 4(5) pp187-202.

“Shooting Climate Change in the Maasai Mara: Aesthetics and Expectations in Participatory Filmmaking with Kenyan Pastoralists” Joana Roque de Pinho Anthropology Now 5(2) pp74-86.

“Tongue and Pen: A Challenge to Philosophers from Africa” Ngugi wa Thiong’o Journal of African Cultural Studies 25(1) pp158-163.

Transgressing Boundaries: Gender, Identity, Culture and the ‘Other’ in Postcolonial Women’s Narratives in East Africa Elizabeth F Oldfield 240pp Rodopi (Amsterdam).

Uganda

Oral Literature for Children: Rethinking Orality, Literacy, Performance, and Documentation Practices Aaron Mushengyezi 311pp Rodopi (Amsterdam).

Performing Wisdom: Proverbial Lore in Modern Ugandan Society Dominica Dipio and Stuart Sillars Rodopi 392pp (Amsterdam).

“Reinventing a Royalist ‘Public Sphere’ in Contemporary Uganda: The Example of Central Broadcasting Services” Florence Brisset-Foucault Journal of African Cultural Studies 25(1) pp72-87.

Resistance and Politics in Contemporary East African Theatre: Trends in Ugandan Theatre since 1960 Sam Kasule 244pp Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd (Kampala).

“Striking the Snake with Its Own Fangs: Uganda Acoli Song, Performance and Gender Dynamics” Benge Okot Contemporary African Cultural Productions/ Production Culturelles Africains Contemporaines ed V.Y. Mudimbe pp109-127 CODESRIA (Dakar).

“Print the Legend: Myth and Reality in The Last King of Scotland Mark Leopold Framing Africa: Portrayals of a Continent in Contemporary Mainstream Cinema pp21-39 [see this section].

Tanzania

“An Anthropologist among Filmmakers: A Cautionary Tale: the Politics of Production” Patricia Caplan Anthropology Today 29(6) pp23-26.

Aspects of Colonial Tanzania History 211pp Lawrence Mbogoni Mkuki na Nyota (Dar es Salaam).

“East Africa’s Gorée: Slave Trade and Slave Tourism in Bagamoyo, Tanzania” Steven Fabian Canadian Journal of African Studies 47(1) pp95-114.

“Heroes of the Road: Race, Gender and the Politics of Mobility in Twentieth Century Tanzania” Joshua Grace Africa 83(3) pp403-425.

Language, Globalization and the Making of a Tanzanian Beauty Queen 222pp Sabrina Billings Multilingual Matters (Bristol).

“Literature, Media, and Film” Kefa M Otiso Culture and Customs of Tanzania pp68-98.

“Membering and Dismembering: The Poetry and Relationality of Animal Bodies in Kilimanjaro” Knut C Myhre Social Analysis 57(3) pp114-131.

“Mwenye? Muhindi? Mwafrika? Creative Encounters with Afro-Asians in Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya” Aaron Louis Rosenberg Patterns of Prejudice 47(4/5) pp483-501.

“The Political Economy of Cinema (Video Film) in Tanzania” Mona Mwakalinga The African Review: A Journal of African Politics Development and International Affairs 40(1) pp203-217.

“The Poetics of Joking Relationships among the Borana Clans, Kenya” Fugich Wako Research on Humanities and Social Sciences 3(19) pp133-145.

“The Public Life of the Swahili Stonehouse, 14th-15th Centuries AD” Stephanie Wynne-Jones Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32(4) pp759-773.

“Remembering Nyerere: Political Rhetoric and Dissent in Contemporary Tanzania” Felicitas Becker African Affairs: Journal of the Royal African Society 112(447) pp238-261.

Race, Nation, and Citizenship in Post-colonial Africa: The Case of Tanzania Ronald Aminzade 424pp Cambridge UP (Cambridge).

Slavery and Emancipation in Islamic East Africa: From Honour to Respectability Elisabeth McMahon 265pp Cambridge UP (Cambridge).

Taarab Music in Zanzibar in the Twentieth Century Fargion J Topp 237pp Ashgate (Farham).

Malawi

“Catherine Mary Ajizinga Chipembere of Malawi: Living an Extraordinary Life” Natasha Gordon-Chipembere pp111-223 Dialogues across Diasporas: Women Writers, Scholars and Activists of Africana and Latina Descent in Conversation eds Marion Rohrleitner and Sarah E Ryan, Lanham: Lexington Books.

Folklore, Gender and Aids in Malawi: No Secret Under the Sun 190pp Anika Wilson Palgrave Macmillan (New York).

“Overlooked and sublime: The case of ‘mitingu’ Dance Songs of Northern Malawi” Critical Arts: A Journal of Media Studies 23(4) pp418-438.

Reading Malawian Literature: New Approaches and Theories eds Tito Banda and Joshua Kumwenda 167pp Mzuni Press (Mzuzu, Malawi).

Studies On Individual Writers

Gurnah, Abdulrazak “At the Margins: Silences in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Admiring Silence and The Last Gift” English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp128-140.

— “Dottie, Cruel Optimism and the Challenge to Culture” David Callahan English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp28-38.

— “From Black Britain to Black Internationalism in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Pilgrim’s Way” Emad Mirmotahari English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp17-27.

— “Honour and Shame in the Construction of Difference in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novels” Godwin Siundu English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp105-116.

— ‘“It Worked in a Different Way’: Male Same-Sex Desire in the Novels of Abdulrazak Gurnah” Kate Houlden English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp91-104.

— “Locating Abdulrazak Gurnah: Margins, Mainstreams, Mobilities” Sally-Ann Murray English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp141-156.

— “Narrative Cartographies, ‘Beautiful Things’ and Littoral States in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea” Meg Samuelson English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp78-90.

— “Postmodern Materialism in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Dottie: Intertextuality as Ideological Critique of Englishness” Simon Lewis English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp31-50.

— “Reading Melancholia in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Pilgrim’s Way” Jopi Nyman English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp4-16.

— “The Submerged History of the Indian Ocean in Admiring Silence” Maria Olaussen English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp65-77.

— “White-Washed Minarets and Slimy Gutters: Abdulrazak Gurnah, Narrative Form and Indian Ocean Space” Charne Lavery English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp117-127.

— “Yusuf’s Choice: East African Agency during the German Colonial Period in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Novel, Paradise” Nina Berman English Studies in Africa 56(1) pp51-64.

Keshubi, Hope “Slap at/for Dignity: Hope Keshubi’s Rebellious Legacy of Social Transformation” Suzanne Ondrus Research in African Literatures 44(4) pp123-144.

Okurut, Mary K “Ugandan Women in Contest with Reality: Mary K Okurut’s A Woman’s Voice and the Women’s Future” Iniobong I Uko African Literature Today (31) pp52-64.

Vassanji, MG “‘The Multinational’s Song’: The Global Reception of MG Vassanji” Laura Moss Post-liberalisation Indian Novels in English: Politics of Global Reception and Awards ed Aysha Iqbal Viswamohan pp 67-83 Anthem Press (London).

Wa Thiong’o, Ngugi “Black on Black: (In)Visibility in African Literary Heterotopias” Tiziana Morosetti Research in African Literatures 44(2) pp48-61.

— “‘A Universal Garden of Many-Coloured Flowers’: Place and Scale in the Works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o” Research in African Literatures 44(3) pp13-29.

— “The Politics and Spaces of Voice: Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” Research in African Literatures 44(3) pp160-175.

— and Ngugi wa Mirii “Sloganeering Christianity in Song: Metatheatricalizing Communal Exploitation in Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ngugi wa Mirii’s I Will Marry When I Want” Niyi Akingbe Facta Universitatis 11(2) pp107-118.

— “A Bend in the Law and Literature: Greed, Anarchy and Dictatorship in the African Worlds of V.S. Naipaul and Ngugi wa Thiong’o” Dustin A. Zacks Northern Illinois University Law Review 34(1) pp169-187.

— “Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood as a Mirror of the African Revolution” Akinwumi Olutola The Criterion 4(2) pp1-10.

— “For Continuity: FR Lewis, Kamau Brathwaite and Ngugi wa Thiong’o” Peter Kalliney Commonwealth of Letters: British Literary Culture and the Emergence of Postcolonial Aesthetics pp75-115 Oxford UP (New York).

Journals

Special Issues

English Studies in Africa: Critical Perspectives on Abdulrazak Gurnah 56(1) eds Tina Steiner and Maria Olaussen.