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Kim Says Sorry
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Tessy and the Mango Tree
Chokora: A Kenyan Scavenger
John Patrick and Martin Joseph are two teens born in the dusty, poor neighbourhood of Huruma in Nairobi. Raised by single unemployed mothers, they turn to scavenging for valuables in the city’s middle-class neighbourhoods to survive the harsh life of Huruma. City residents have labeled them Chokora, a derogatory term to describe human scavengers. And they use this effectively. For them, the Chokora façade is a camouflage as the two youths go about their exploits, including stealing from unsuspecting residents. As fate would have it, the duo ends up in a police cell to face the full reality of their escapades. Chokora! A Kenyan Scavenger is a poetic narration of the reasons most of the urban youth turn to crime. There is a lot of attention paid to the protection of the girl-child in Kenya, while neglecting the boy child. John and Martin have never known their biological fathers and are forced to adopt their mothers’ names instead. From the perspective of many, unconventional naming is an embarrassment amidst the cruel surroundings.
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
Chubot the Cursed One and other stories
Christopher Okemwa's Chubot, the Cursed & Other Storiesis a collection of stories which captures society's realities as played by characters rendered in the stories.
A recurring theme is the role of women in society and their longing for equity, their triumph often depicted by heroines catapulted by circumstances rather than deliberate action of society to engineer their success. Women's humility is felt through the stories, even in the face of courage to confront taboos and traditions with society contributing little towards their success. Indeed, women's triumphs are captured as happening where men fall short.
Many of these stories raise the question of why society lacks a systematic approach to women's empowerment.
Chubot, the Cursed One, and Other Stories was selected in the UN SDG Book Club Africa Chapter as a Club title in the Social Development Goal (SDG) number 5 - Gender Equality
The Gong: A collection of Poems
"A very good insight into the writer's perception of life - as a child, the woes of African teachers, life and death, religion, prostitution, marriage, witchcraft, love, hatred and existence.
"These poems are genuine; and convey the heartfelt experiences of a very sensitive, honest and articulate spirit. You can tell that Christopher is talented.
"Poetry is a concentrated form of expression. It's not for the prosaic or the talkative. Christopher is fortunate to belong to the class of humans who can say a lot in a few words."
- Charles Phebi-Agyekum, Author
"Christopher Okemwa is a master of mixing the voice of rapture with despair, an exceptional voice, in many ways unlike the usual voice we hear from Africa , longing to unravel the secrets of life and of love, striving to reach the unreachable, accomplished and lyrical."
- Anna Petkova Mwangi
“The Gong is an excellent work that engages the reader. Each poem leads to a journey; a weaving of Stories, Sayings and Truths, each one creating an imprint on the mind. It is an unforgettable experience and a remarkable record of the times which must be shared.”
- Estella Muyinda
Ominous Clouds
Ominous Clouds is a collection of poems that have specifically been selected from previous works by the author. The collection comprises of poems with the theme of Kenyan politics. Issues of governance, negative ethnicity and political violence are tackled.
The poems have been translated to Finnish, Norwegian and Greek. These multiple translations enable the poetry to travel around the globe and beyond the readership in English, the original language in which they were written. As the translators have noted, the translations offer readership in the said languages to learn about the country Kenya as captured in the poetry.