10 Books About Kenya By Kenyans
The Republic of Kenya is the 29th most populous country in the world, home to more than 47,600,000 people, and the third largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has an incredibly rich history, tracing primate habitation for more than 20 million years. Its borders encompass major cities of Nairobi, the current capital, founded by colonialists in 1899; Mombasa, the original capital, founded by Kenyans in 900 CE; and Kisumu, one of the oldest settlements in Kenya and located on Lake Victoria.
The country was invaded by Omani Arabs in the 17th century, who then established a slave trade with Portuguese colonialists. In the 1880s, Germany established Kenya as a protectorate (a deeply colonialist word), calling the whole country the “East Africa Protectorate,” which was transferred to the British in 1890. It was renamed Kenya in 1920; from 1952 to 1959, the Mau Mau people in Kenya fought a rebellion to release the country from British rule. On December 12, 1964, the Republic of Kenya was officially established and functions today as an independent democratic republic, although it is still considered part of the British Commonwealth.
With such a deep history and so many diverse voices — both African and not — in its history, it is no surprise that Kenya’s literature is equally multifaceted and beautiful. I’ve gathered ten books about Kenya here from Kenyan authors, based on recommendations from Kenyan readers and bloggers.
THE BEST BOOKS ABOUT KENYA
PETALS OF BLOOD BY NGŨGĨ WA THIONG’O
When it was first published in 1977, this deceptively simple crime investigation tale was so revolutionary that the Kenyan government imprisoned Thiong’o without charges. In the last five decades, NgÅ©gÄ© has become one of the country’s most decorated authors. He writes consistently on sociopolitical themes, and Petals of Blood is a truly explosive tale of a modern third-world nation whose leaders consistently fail their people.
THE RIVER AND THE SOURCE BY MARGARET A. OGOLA
Ogola’s books run the gamut regarding subject, with The River and the Source considered to be her best novel. It spans the lives of three generations of Kenyan women, reaching into the 20th century. She published a sequel, I Swear by Apollo, in February 2022.
ONE DAY I WILL WRITE ABOUT THIS PLACE: A MEMOIR BY BINYAVANGA WAINAINA
Wainaina, an out, gay, HIV-positive Black Kenyan man, died in 2019. His works are deeply controversial, especially in countries where homosexuality is a crime. This memoir tracks his upbringing, a failed job as a programmer in South Africa, and the shifting landscape of his family, tribe, and nation.
DUST BY YVONNE ADHIAMBO OWUOR
Owuor wrote her first short story, The Weight of Whispers, in 2003, and it earned her the Caine Prize for African Writing. In Dust, she has penned what some argue is the best saga by a Kenyan author.
When Odidi Oganda is gunned down in the streets of Nairobi, his sister Ajany and her father must return his body to their home in the Kenyan drylands. But Odidi’s murder unravels long-held secrets, reaching back to the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s. Read More…
