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Charity begins at home, or so the platitude goes. It would, therefore, be remiss of us to start our book evangelism some place other than home. And having said that, it is with much ado that we join in the hype about the African debut of the Asian Literary Festival, which is set to take place in April, 2026 right here in Nairobi. This is particularly exciting news for authors and readers in East Africa; it is an opportunity to commune and share experiences with like-minded people from vastly different cultural backgrounds, and, at virtually no cost! Literary festivals are…
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Today’s actions are tomorrow’s results. I’m sure you’ve heard an iteration of this phrase somewhere. That’s because it’s a truism, and one that you may want to keep at the back of your mind if you happen to be an African author (or writer). Because never before has the continent needed more thought-provoking stories than it does now. Why, you ask? Simple: According to Worldometer, Africa has the youngest population of any continent (the nitty-gritties may vary between sources, but it will still hold true). People in the business of analysing demographics will tell you what this means: it means…
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I was recently in conversation with a local bookstore owner about having my upcoming novel on their shelves. They gave me a sobering piece of advice; to temper my expectations on sales. African literature isn’t doing so great out here right now, they said, even established authors with a number of published books are selling surprisingly few copies. I knew they were right to a certain degree, the same way I know the price of essential goods will go up over the next few months because of oil. My hope was pampered with the vague reassurance that the story I…