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Shifting Sands
Shifting Sands is a gripping narration by Kemunto aka Kemu" to her three girlfriends, all of different cultural heritage. Kemu aspires to be a writer but life with its vicissitudes doesn't make her dream an easy one. We follow the four young girls as they mature in this adventure, growing up and facing the world. Their encounters, surprises and cultural intricacies make for good reading.
Their intertwined lives from a young age, and their different cultural backgrounds and upbringing offer interesting insights. Kemu and Myra are Kenyan Africans while Shilpa is third-generation Kenyan-Indian and Latifah is third-generation Kenyan-Arab. The latter two face questions of nationality all the time, despite that their families have been in the country for generations.
Shifting Sands is an intriguing tale of enduring encounters of living a moral and ethical life, placing its own challenges on friendships cemented from early childhood and school. How will the four ladies' friendship survive?
Shifting Sand's various strands of narratives are compelling and herald the coming of age of a gifted and talented writer who brings women and children experiences hauntingly to life. In this tale we get contrasting insights of issues that impact women, children and relationships. Tradition and cultural practices of old are challenged in the face of modernity while age-old wisdom, like that from Kemu's grandmother (Magokoro) and father, appear immutable.
What Others Say
"Mombasa, a tapestry city where east meets west and north meets south, is the metonymy that gives Moraa Gitaa the opportunity to indict archaic cultural beliefs, government authorities, extremism, the suppression of women, and a whole slew of questionable practices in modern Kenya. Kemunto's voice is that of the archetypal, dignified and upright woman everywhere in the developing world, not just that of the African woman. Quite well said." - Charles Phebih-Agyekum, author and book editor.
"Shifting Sands is a powerful, compelling and gripping narrative employing a mature mastery of the English language that leaves the reader yearning for more." - Excerpt from judges' comments, 2008 National Book Development Council of Kenya Literary Awards.
"Moraa Gitaa's Shifting Sands will add value to the national discourse on gender discrimination, inter-generational tensions, socioeconomic marginalization, HIV and AIDS, the injustices suffered by the poor in this country, corruption, transnational and global connections and their impact on the lives of Kenyans and other nationals residing in the country." - Comparative Literature Lecturer at a Kenyan university.
Crucible for Silver and Furnace for Gold
Giorgio thought that a sojourn to Kenya's coast was the perfect way to kick back and relax, luxuriate in the sun, scuba-dive, take big-game fishing trips or a dhow cruise, but it turns out to be a break filled with mixed fortunes. On the other hand, Lavina's sabbatical for soul-searching in Malindi turns out to be a Herculean task of grappling with a moral dilemma of epic proportions. When their paths cross and their lives become intertwined, their emotionally charged struggle to connect with each other is challenging and turbulent.
This story deals with various socioeconomic issues ranging from the institution of marriage and multi-racial relationships, to amazing Kenyan art & culture, to historical land injustices brought about by the pre-nineteenth century, 99 year old colonial crown land leases, absentee landlords, and the long overdue land reform agenda on land tenures, the cause of many a conflict in the country.
The first scene opens on the Kenyan coast with captivating miles of pristine sandy white beaches, lapped by clear turquoise waters, providing the backdrop for your typical tropical beach holiday, but gets marred with a near-tragedy.
Here is a compelling and descriptive narrative that will pull at your heartstrings, but one that offers a message of hope to a moral dilemma that has bedeviled the world.
Here is what others say about this work:
From an an author clearly proud of her heritage and the beauty of her country comes a romantic tale set in Kenya. Featuring a jaw-achingly handsome Italian man and a beautiful, talented, but troubled local girl, the romance unfolds in a light teasing manner until the twist in the tale turns out to be a moral dilemma that would test the strength of any relationship. - Muthoni Garland - Kenyan writer nominated and short-listed for Caine Prize 2006, winner of Absinthe Literary Review 2003, and Founder of Story Moja, a new publishing initiative in Kenya
Moraa Gitaa writes with a crisp, clean style that will engage the reader from the first paragraph forward. A ground-breaking novel from a modern 'This Generation' African woman. A fine example of expressive writing that women around the world will find both inspiring and insightful. You'll turn page after page. - Rod Amis, Publisher & Editor G21 The World's Magazine
In delicious detail and with revolutionary zeal, Moraa tells a story of fierce passion, challenging tradition and breaking taboo. She weaves a surprising symphony. Fabulous! - John Mwazemba, Publishing Manager, Macmillan (Kenya) Publishers
Vigorous, with a surprise at every turn. This one will capture you alive! - Bruce L. Cook, Author-me.com
Moraa’s keen hand represents her generation’s challenges, hopes and dreams. She presents the reader with an intriguing, lyrical tale where lies a complex and breathtaking story of modern Kenya as shaped by politics, global interconnectedness, and the stirrings of hearts motivated by private sorrows, personal commitments, and high ideals. - Dr. Wambui Githiora-Updike, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Author of Wanjira.
A remarkable tale of love that keeps you turning the pages deep into the night. As you close the last page, you are, without choice, left with the burning question: How do I live my life? - Onduko bw'Atebe, Kenyan Author, his debut novel The Verdict of Death won first prize in the inaugural Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize (Kenya) 2006
Unchartered Mind
Unchartered Mind: Poems about Life and Living is Imali J. Abala’s most impressive poetry collection to date. The poems are lyrical, imagistic, and thought-provoking. Exploring the complexity of life and living, the poems take the reader on a journey of self-discovery as they probe the very essence of our humanity and existence, a real delight to read.
What Readers Say
"Imali J. Abala shows a unique and creative brilliance in this volume of poetry collection titled Unchartered Mind: Poems about Life and Living. Quite boldly, Abala challenges her readers to acknowledge the literary sanctity of double engenders in such comparisons as life and liberty, hope and faith, joy and death. Without shame, she brazenly asserts that, perhaps, America’s freedom isn’t what it is cracked up to be.
Abala, a life-long learner, possesses a global world view that is seasoned by her academic experience as a veteran professor of English. It is her gift of words, her reflective culture and her passion for life that serve as the impetus for “verse” as discovered in Unchartered Mind: Poems about Life and Living." - Dr. Brooksie Harrington, Professor of English at Fayetteville State University.
Cast the First Stone
Driven by acquisitive greed, corrupt individuals lobby the government for favourable policies for their businesses. In cutthroat competition, the high and mighty engages in deadly selfish games of land and property acquisition regardless of cost. The poor are equally determined! They use every imaginable trick to have their piece of the pie.
Cast the first stone is an intriguing story on lives in an African country. Kalamu, an investigative journalist, embarks on a truth-seeking assignment at the Alfajiri Scheme, not aware that his expose’ will rattle the establishment. He discovers rot whose tentacles run deep, presenting unprecedented risk to his life and the lives of his sources! Will he unravel the tangled maze?
What Others Say
“Cast the First Stone is moving story about the pivotal role of the press in the fight for positive change in corruption-ridden societies. It is an indictment of the press and government in the perpetuation of corruption, particularly in developing countries. The novelist has demonstrated great command of the English language and written the story with a powerful message in a style that is easy and interesting to read. The issues addressed are very relevant to the African society today.” – Dr. Andrew Nyongesa, Scholar of Literature.
“From cutting deals, playing the deadly and selfish games of trampling on the poor to get ahead, to the never-say-die spirit of the poor to get a piece of the cake, Cast the First Stone is a riveting story that illuminates the realities of a corrupt, unjust society!” – Anonymous.
Why We Tell Stories
Storytelling was an intrinsic activity in traditional African communities. Typically told by older people, usually grandmothers and grandfathers, stories were a way of life for the young and old alike, linking the past, present and future of those societies. Set as they were around a fire, the storytelling tradition strengthened communal ties between the old and the young, and as reinforced bonds among the young.
Stories emphasized shared culture, cultural values and history that were the foundation of the society’s ties. They underscored important societies’ traditions, beliefs and other norms.
From the old, the young learnt lessons about their community that to affirmed their collective identity. They learnt and internalized moral values such as honesty, courage, respect, solidarity and caring for others. Invariably, stories discouraged greed and selfishness. Further, the tales captured the essence of the environment in which the people lived while reinforcing their core values. They contributed to character-building through appreciation of the moral of the stories.
In Why We Tell Stories, Dorcas Kiptoo and Arthur Dobrin bring their storytelling experiences and expertise to the fore through a selection of from the African folklore. Even as the two look back to societies of yore to dig up the tales, the inherent lessons remain as relevant in contemporary times as they were ages ago.
About the Authors
Dorcas Kiptoo was born in Mogotio, Kenya. She attended Kenyatta University where she earned her Bachelor of Education degree. She currently lives in New York.
Bile on my Smile
Bile on My Smile is a collection of poems authored by the youngest and most brilliant poet in Kenya. Its motivation seems to largely emanate from the poet’s childhood experiences: meditations, self-hate, self-denial, trauma, frustrations, disappointments, and failed ambitions. Reading through the poems the reader feels like being in a dark room with an invisible body that is experiencing anguish and trauma, haunted by invisible ghosts and spirits.
Here is What Other’s Say
Jepkorir Koech’s collection of poems Bile on My Smile vibrates with enthusiasm and valour. The poet ventures into beaten paths as well unbeaten ones in her bid to touch the instinct and intellect of her reader. Utilisation, preservation and conservation of nature for collective good certainly come out as a well-thought-out theme. This, added to philosophical concepts love, beauty, death, truth, betrayal, loss and freedom, reflects deeply on the poet’s concern for humanity’s most salient issue today: Destruction of nature and impending attendant catastrophes! The poems are a promise of hope for humanity. -Bwocha Nyagemi Bwocha, Kisii University.
Window into Worlds
Dr. Evans Gesura Mecha’s poems in Window into Worlds stir the soul and evoke worlds beyond worlds. I am overjoyed to read them, as I believe other readers would. Mecha’s poetry easily blends the jigsaws of life in the present with that of antiquity and the metaphysical. It is as much rooted in contemporaneity, indigenous ethos, as in the inwardness of a universal rhythm which ripples through his poetry like a pure, crystalline stream flowing effortlessly. It is delightfully oblique yet not constricted by the artifice of rhetoric and prosody. The subterranean nuances trigger the mind to introspect and delve into untold depths of the “feeling intellect” (Wordsworth).His powerful imagism and natural impressionism makes it superbly impactful, permeating the deepest consciousness of the reader. His poetic diction revels as much in the ordinary beauty of everyday natural life as in the transcendental realm eluding the patterns of words. His poetry smells of the musk of the soil and wings out into the transcendental. Mecha takes one easily on the magic carpet of a poetic elysium into the realms of the multiverse. I am sure readers will revel in his poetry as much as I have. - Prof. Dr. Laksmisree Banerjee, Poet, Professor, Vocalist & Ex-Vice Chancellor; Universities of Calcutta, Ranchi & Kolhan, INDIA.
Chachu za Waja : Augustine Muhindo
Udhalimu wa wanawake na wanaume ni suala la kawaida. Kazi hii inadhihirisha uhalisia wa maisha katika familia nyingi za kisasa ambapo kuna ufeministi ambapo hata mwanamke anahisi kuwa nguzo ya familia. Maisha hayo ni sawa na yale watu waliyokuwa wakiishi katika nchi dhahania ya Sokoya, iliyokuwa na makabila mawili yaani Wakomoro na Warambi.
Riwaya yenyewe, inadhihirisha dhahiri shahiri jinsi wanaume wanavyodhulumiwa na wake zao. Bw. Mkata ni mfano bora anayedhalilishwa na mkewe Zekelina, mwanamke mashuhuri na maridadi katika mavazi yake kwa sababu ya hali yake ya uchechefu wa pesa. Latifu pia anadharauliwa na mchumba wake Firinda anayetambua kuwa hajatahiriwa kwa mujibu wa utamaduni wa Rambi.
Kinyume na matarajio, mahusiano yanazuka wakati ambapo wanawake wanawapenda wanaume na kuvuka mipaka na kutangaza hisia zao. Peremina anamchumbia Isma naye Firinda anamsalitikia Latifu na mahusiano hayo mawili yanaishia kwenye machozi.
Maoni ya wasomaji...
Anuani “Chachu za waja” inaafiki matukio yaliyoangaziwa kwenye kazi yenyewe. Pengine hakuna anuani bora zaidi ya Chachu za waja kusawiri dhamira ya mwandishi.
Mwandishi ametumia mbinu ya kipekee ya chachu katika harakatio za kuunda kazi yake kuonesha kwamba, swala analolizungumuzia lipo na waathirika ni wengi.
The Forbidden Fruit
Devolution of governance and management of public services came as a blessing to many at the grassroots. It generated hope and raised expectations for the many that wallowed in poverty for years on end. With twists and turns, Tumbocracy etches out Democracy and, inevitably, things take the wrong-turn! Is doom the ultimate destination for the many a citizen at the grassroots? Forbidden Fruit is a fast-paced drama that raises important questions about the legitimacy of the many flagship initiatives of devolved units!
What Others Say
“The play captures happenings in devolved units in Kenya. Poor governance, mass corruption, and leaders’ amassing of wealth for themselves, is evident. The playwright creates the content anew and makes it sensitive to the society again as these issues have been taken as obvious and normal.” – Rose Keya Kong’ani, Editor
The Girl of Red Beauty
In these thirteen chapters of verse, titled The Girl of Red Beauty, Alfred Nyagaka Nyamwange captures voices of the people of Gusii, AbaGusii, through their songs, proverbs and play games. The voices pronounce AbaGusii philosophies, fears, moods, and tempo as they work and traverse the hills and the valleys that constitute the Gusii Highlands. The element of the poetry here emanates from the beliefs, norms, proverbs, sayings, wisdom, songs, stories, and the environment, all of which combine to produce a presence of living souls. The personas fully manifest in an active environment, whereby, at every strum of the lyre and roll of the drum, the verse comes alive. Welcome, sing and dance along.
What Others Say
Nyamwange writes in the trend of African oral tradition with his poetry using local imagery and idioms, and of simple and direct language. "It affirms valuable continuity with pre-colonial African culture synthesized with other cultures to create something unique.” – Dr. Chris Okemwa, Author, Poet and Lecturer in Literary Studies.
“The uniqueness of the anthology of this poetry lies in the thorough depiction of the culture of AbaGusii from different facets such as marriage, circumcision, religion, environment through poetry. The work resembles great poetry such as Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol.” – Dr. Andrew Nyongesa, Editor and Literary Scholar
