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There is a substantial volume of reading matter on Kenya, though
much of the European output has been fairly lightweight and the more
scholarly works tend to be indigestible. You might want to subscribe to
The Journal of African Travel Writing , a twice-yearly, 100-page
publication ($10 yearly in the US, $14 abroad; PO Box 346, Chapel Hill,
NC 27514, USA ) which always contains a wide-ranging selection, from
poetry and anecdotes to literary criticism.
For pre-departure reading, the growing body of Kenyan literature
provides a good foretaste. Some of the following titles may be most
easily available in Kenya (for imports in the UK, try the Africa Book
Centre, 38 King St, London WC2E 8JT tel 020/7240 6649, fax 7497 0309,
africabooks@dial.pipex.com). Publishers are given in brackets after the
title, unless the book is out of print (o/p). Very useful are the
internet bookstores, such as , , which will try to get just about
anything, and are cheap and convenient if you know exactly what you want.
You can also buy Kenyan books on line from Nairobi's Legacy Bookshop at
.
Although a number of authors have written in the older languages of
Kenya, English still predominates as the medium for artistic expression,
a situation which creates dilemmas for writers struggling both to reach
a readership at home and to find viable channels for publication. Most
Kenyan fiction is more cheaply available in Kenya than abroad.
Titles marked * are particularly recommended
Travel and general accounts
Bartle Bull Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure (Penguin, UK/US). A great,
macho slab of a book, jammed with photos. It's grotesque but utterly
compelling - even if the cruelty and foolish waste of the hunting era,
so recently past, is emotionally wearing.
Negley Farson Behind God's Back (o/p). An American journalist's account
of his long overland journey across Africa on the eve of World War II. A
lively book if you can stomach the alarming shifts between criticism of
the colonial world and participation in its worst prejudices.
Dick Hedges Tilda's Angel (Book Guild, UK). If you want to know all
about the man behind Safari Camp Services and the Turkana Bus, this is
for you. Good on what makes Anglo-Kenyans tick.
John Hillaby Journey to the Jade Sea (o/p). An obvious one to read
before a trip to Lake Turkana. Hillaby's account of his walk in the
early 1960s is dated and not always informative - an adventure, as he
writes, "for the hell of it", with sprinklings of tall stories and
descriptions of loony incompetence.
J. Ludwig Krapf Travel and Missionary Labors in Africa (o/p). The
account of the first missionary at Mombasa, and the first European to
set eyes on Mount Kenya.
David Lamb The Africans (Vintage, US). There's really no contest between
Lamb, a Los Angeles Times hack, and Marnham (see below) for a
contemporary view of the continent. The Africans has been something of a
best seller, but Lamb's fly-in, fly-out technique is a muddled,
statistical rant, couched in Cold War rhetoric; even when ostensibly
uncovering a pearl of wisdom, he can be unpleasantly offensive.
Patrick Marnham Fantastic Invasion: Dispatches from Africa (o/p).
Although written in the 1970s, nothing since has matched this withering
and devastatingly sharp collection, which includes several essays on
Kenya. An excellent book, which tunnels beneath the mountain of dross
written about Africa.
Peter Matthiessen The Tree Where Man Was Born (Harvill, UK/Petersmith,
US). Wanderings and musings of the Zen-thinking polymath in Kenya and
northern Tanzania, first published in 1972. Enthralling for its detail
on nature, society, culture and prehistory, and beautifully written,
this is a gentle, appetizing introduction to the land and its people.
George Monbiot No Man's Land (o/p). A journey through Kenya and
Tanzania, providing a shocking exposé of Maasai dispossession and a
major criticism of the wildlife conservation movement.
Dervla Murphy The Ukimwi Road (Flamingo, UK/Overlook, US). Murphy's bike
ride from Kenya to Zimbabwe becomes - for her - a trip through lands
lost to AIDS and neo-colonialism.
Shiva Naipaul North of South (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics, UK/Penguin,
US). A fine but caustic account of the late Naipaul's life and travels
in Kenya, Tanganyika and Zambia in the 1970s. Always readable and
sometimes hilarious, the insights make up for the occasionally angst-ridden
social commentary and some passages that widely miss the mark.
Craig Packer Into Africa (Chicago University Press, UK/US). A professor
of ecology, evolution and behaviour, Packer puts it all to good use in
day-by-day reflections during an eight-week field trip.
Joyce Poole Coming of Age with Elephants (Hodder & Stoughton, UK/Hyperion,
US). Deeply sympathetic account of studying the social and sexual
behaviour of elephants in Amboseli.
Keith B. Richburg Out of America; a Black Man Confronts Africa (Basic
Books, UK/Harcourt Brace, US). Nairobi bureau chief for the Washington
Times from 1991-94, Richburg discovered that he was American, not
African, and preferred it that way. A rather depressing read - and
partial by the nature of its author. Journalists need stories, and that
usually means bad news - this is unfortunately likely to stoke the
flames of moral relativism.
Rick Ridgeway The Shadow of Kilimanjaro (Bloomsbury UK/Henry Holt & Co,
US). The American adventurer and filmmaker took a walk in 1997 through
the bush from Kilimanjaro to Mombasa - mostly through Tsavo West and
East, along the Tsavo-Galana River. Robust, readable and full of
passionate enthusiasm for the wild country and the wildlife.
Oona Strathern (editor) Traveller's Literary Companion: Africa (o/p).
Brief selections of literature from or about virtually every African
country, including a good raft of Kenyan pieces.
Louis Taussig Resource Guide to Travel in Sub-Saharan Africa: Vol 1 East
and West Africa (Hans Zell, UK/KG-Saur, US). Extraordinarily detailed
country-by-country coverage of every published source of interest to
travellers or expatriates, as well as bookstores, libraries, mapping
institutes, children's resources and conservation societies, to list
just a few.
Wilfred Thesiger My Kenya Days (o/p). The account of thirty-odd years in
northern Kenya by a very strange man indeed - an old Etonian noble
savage with no interest in modern Africa, wedded to his own ego and a
reactionary, glamour-laden view of his tribal companions.
Joseph Thomson Through Maasailand: To the central African Lakes and Back
(Frank Cass, UK/International Specialized Book Services, US). First
published 1885, these two volumes detail Thomson's African journeys of
exploration.
Daisy Waugh A Small Town in Africa (Mandarin, UK). A year in the life of
Isiolo.
Evelyn Waugh A Tourist in Africa (o/p). First published in 1960, Waugh's
diary of a short trip to Kenya, Tanganyika and Rhodesia is determinedly
arrogant and uninformed, but funny, too - and brief enough to consume at
a single sitting.
Essays
Wahome Mutahi How to be a Kenyan (Kenway Pubications, Kenya) A satirical
view of Kenyan life by one of the country's most popular newspaper
columnists. Painfully funny, and rather close to the bone, the book
takes a humorous look at Kenya's very worst side - it won't put you off
the country, but it will certainly give you a chuckle at Kenya's
expense. Mutahi followed it up with a sideswipe at Kenyan women entitled
How to be a Kenyan Lady .
Renato Kizito Sesana Father Kizito's Notebook (Koinonia Media Centre,
Kenya) Kenyan life from the Catholic perspective of Fr Kizitos weekly
columns in the Sunday Nation. Full of insights into the struggle to
survive that most people here call life, infused with humour and
compassion.
Wildlife
Having a field guide makes a huge difference to travelling on safari.
Many of the following are not published in the US, but are easily found
in Kenya itself.
Mohamed Amin, Duncan Willets and Brian Tetley The Beautiful Animals of
Kenya (Text Book Centre, Kenya). Lavish photos but sparing text, an easy,
lightweight book, but more a tourist souvenir than a serious guide to
Kenyan wildlife.
Michael Blundell Wild Flowers of East Africa (o/p). Botanical companion
in the series.
Jean Dorst and Pierre Dandelot Larger Mammals of Africa (HarperCollins,
UK). Readable and accessible with lively illustrations, though it tends
to favour classifying many races as separate species.
Richard E. Estes The Safari Companion (Chelsea Green, UK) This book aims
to explain not only what animals you're looking at, but also what
they're doing, and its illustrated explanations make fascinating reading.
T. Haltenorth and H. Diller Mammals of Africa (HarperCollins, UK). A
rival for Dorst and Dandelot, which tends to find fewer species in the
variety of mammals out there. With its superabundance of detail, this
might look like first choice, but the somewhat stylized paintings are
less meaningful than Dorst and Dandelot's when you're thumping through
the bush, and much of the text is superfluous for all but the
professional zoologist.
John Karmali The Beautiful Birds of Kenya (Text Book Centre, Kenya).
Like its companion volume, Beautiful Animals , a tourist souvenir of
Kenyan birds with lots of colour photos.
Jonathan Kingdon The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Natural
World, UK) A detailed and comprehensive catalogue of African land
mammals, illustrated with photographs and distribution maps for each
species.
Ray Moore Where to Watch Birds in Kenya (Transafrica Press, Kenya).
Invaluable tips and background for the devoted bird-watcher.
Ber van Perlo Birds of Eastern Africa (HarperCollins, UK). An essential
pocket guide, providing clear colour illustrations and distribution maps
for every species known to occur in East Africa, though little by way of
descriptive text.
Dave Richards Photographic Guide to the Birds of East Africa (New
Holland, UK). Over three hundred colour photos.
Chris Stuart and Tilde Stuart Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of
Africa (New Holland, UK/Ralph Curtis, US). Good field guide published in
the late 1990s.
Nigel Wheatley Where to Watch Birds in Africa (Christopher Helm, UK/Princeton
University Press, US). Tight structure and plenty of useful detail make
this a must-have for serious bird-watchers in Africa; 25 pages on Kenya.
John Williams Birds of East Africa ; Field Guide to the Butterflies of
Africa ; National Parks of East Africa (all HarperCollins, UK). Birds is
the standard spotter's tome. Butterflies is exotic and useful - if you
can get hold of a copy. National Parks covers parks, reserves, mammals
and birds, but there's too much space devoted to long lists of fauna,
and the practical details for the parks are too dated to be of any use.
Zimmerman, Turner and Pearson A Field Guide to the Birds of Kenya and
Northern Tanzania (Adlard Coles Nautical, UK). Comprehensive coverage in
a brand new paperback edition.
Colonial writers
Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) Out of Africa (Penguin, UK/Vintage, US).
This has become something of a cult book, particularly in the wake of
the movie. First published in 1937, it describes Blixen's life (Dinesen
was a nom de plume) on her Ngong Hills coffee farm between the wars.
Read today, it seems to hover uncertainly between contemporary
literature and historical document. It's an intense read - lyrical,
introspective, sometimes obnoxiously and intricately racist, but worth
pursuing and never superficial, unlike the film. Karen Blixen's own
Letters from Africa 1914-1931 (trans. Anne Born, Chicago UP, US) gives
posthumous insights.
Harry Hook The Kitchen Toto (o/p). By way of an antidote to a surfeit of
settlers' yarns, this screenplay tells the story of Mwangi, a Kikuyu
houseboy caught up in the early stages of the Mau Mau rebellion. Writer-director
Hook's movie is as keen as a country panga and draws masterful
performances from a largely unknown cast.
Elspeth Huxley The Flame Trees of Thika (o/p); The Mottled Lizard (o/p).
Based on her own childhood, from a prolific author who also wrote
numerous works on colonial history and society, including White Man's
Country , a biography of the settlers' doyen, Lord Delamere , and Out in
the Midday Sun: My Kenya , both as readable, if also predictable, as any.
Her last book, Nine Faces of Kenya (Harvill, UK) is a somewhat dewy-eyed
anthology of colonial East African ephemera. More interesting is the
collection of her mother's letters, Nellie's Story , which includes some
compelling coverage of the Mau Mau years from the pen of a likeably
eccentric settler.
Beryl Markham West with the Night (Penguin, UK/Northpoint, US). Markham
made the first east-west solo flight across the Atlantic. This is her
only book about her life in the interwar Kenya colony, drawing together
adventures, landscapes and contemporary figures. Not great literature,
but highly evocative.
Richard Meinertzhagen Kenya Diary 1902-1906 (o/p). The haunting day-to-day
narrative of a young British officer in the protectorate.
Meinertzhagen's brutal descriptions of "punitive expeditions" are
chillingly matter-of-fact and make the endless tally of his wildlife
slaughter pale inoffensively in comparison. As a reminder of the
savagery that accompanied the British intrusion, and a stark insight
into the complex mind of one of its perpetrators, this is disturbing,
highly recommended reading. Good photos, too.
Judith Thurman Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Story Teller (Penguin,
UK/Picador, US). A biography that sets the record straighter and was the
source of much of the material for the Out of Africa film.
Errol Trzebinski The Lives of Beryl Markham (Mandarin, UK/Norton, US).
In which, among much else, it is suggested that Markham did not, and
could not, have written West with the Night .
Kenyan fiction in English
Chinua Achebe and C.L. Innes (editors) African Short Stories (Heinemann,
UK/US). A collection which treats its material geographically, including
Kenyan stories from Jomo Kenyatta, Grace Ogot, Ngugi and a spooky
offering ( The Spider's Web ) from Leonard Kibera, brother of Sam Kahiga.
Thomas Akare The Slums (o/p). A bleaker read than Mwangi, but also more
humane. Without quotation marks, the dialogue melds seamlessly into the
narrative; no doubts about the authentic rhythms of Kenyan English here.
But much is assumed to be understood and there's much that won't be,
unless you're sitting under a 25-watt light bulb in a River Road B&L.
Lalage Bown (editor) Two Centuries of African English (o/p). Includes
non-fiction extracts from the work of J. M. Kariuki ( Mau Mau Detainee
), Ali Mazrui on intellectuals and revolution, Githende Mockerie and R.
Mugo Gatheru recounting their childhoods, and Tom Mboya on Julius
Nyerere, first president of Tanzania.
Charlotte H. Bruner (editor) Unwinding Threads: Writing by Women in
Africa (Heinemann, UK/US). Also geographical, with succinct
introductions to each region. East Africa features Kenyan writers
Charity Waciuma and the excellent Grace Ogot, whose The Rain Came is a
bewitching mystery myth, combining traditional Luo tales with her own
fiction in a perplexingly "Western" form. There's a new Heinemann
collection edited by Bruner, entitled African Women's Writing .
Sam Kahiga Flight to Juba - Short Stories (Longman, Kenya); The Girl
from Abroad (o/p). Vital, exasperating, obnoxious and plain crazy - a
writer to love to hate.
John Kiriamiti My Life in Crime (Spear, Kenya) This racy
autobiographical account, penned in prison by a professional robber, was
so successful that the author went on to write two novels ( Son of Fate
and The Sinister Trophy ) plus an account of his time as a villain told
from his fiancée's point of view ( My Life with a Criminal: Millie's
Story ).
J. Roger Kurtz Urban Obsessions, Urban Fears: the postcolonial Kenyan
novel (James Currey, UK/Africa World Press, US). Explores the
relationship between Kenyan fiction in English and the city of Nairobi.
Includes a comprehensive bibliography of all the Kenyan novels in
English since Ngugi's Weep Not, Child was first published in 1964.
Bramwell Lusweti The Way to the Town Hall (Macmillan, Kenya). Enjoyable
satire aimed at small-town politicians and businessmen. A Swahili
dictionary (to translate the characters' names) is a help.
Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye Victoria and Murder in Majengo (Macmillan, UK).
Two novels - available in one volume - putting a Luo woman's view on
life in Kenya from one of the country's few published women writers.
Charles Mangua Son of Woman (Spear, Kenya) Less down and out, but a lot
more "street" than Meja Mwangi, Mangua tells the tale of a son of a
prostitute and his misadventures: hard-bitten and cynical, but engaging
nonetheless. In a very different style, his second novel, A Tail in the
Mouth , looks at the Mau Mau rebellion through the eyes of a young man
caught up in it and swept along by events.
Ali Mazrui The Trial of Christopher Okigbo (o/p). A clever "novel of
ideas" from the US-based political scientist, who always succeeds in
infuriating both critics of Kenya and its supporters. His book, Cultural
Forces in World Politics (James Currey, UK/Heinemann, US) is a survey of
cultural and political ideas which also addresses the issues surrounding
Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses .
David Mulwa Master and Servant (o/p). Growing up in colonial Kenya: a
funny and affecting string of episodes.
Mude Dae Mude The Hills are Falling (Kenya Literature Bureau, Nairobi).
Life from Marsabit to Nairobi.
Meja Mwangi Going Down River Road; Carcase for Hounds; Kill Me Quick (all
in Heinemann's African Writers series, UK/US, the latter two titles now
o/p). Mwangi is lighter and more accessible than Ngugi, his fiction
infused with the absurdities of urban Nairobi slum life. Going Down
River Road is the best known: convincing scenes, chaotic action and
sharp dialogue (though it's never clear whether the English/American
street cool is meant to be real, or an effort to render the Swahili-Kikuyu
"Sheng" slang of the slums). Great in situ reading. Mwangi was
shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, with Striving for the
Wind (1992), set in a rural rather than urban location.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in
African Literature (Heinemann, UK/US). Ngugi has long been closely
associated with attempts to move Kenyan literature and African
literature in general towards expression in the readers' mother tongues.
Kenneth Watene Sunset on the Manyatta (East African Publishing House,
Kenya). A Maasai man in Germany.
Kenyan poetry
The oldest form of written poetry in Kenya is from the coast. Swahili
poetry reads beautifully even if you don't understand the words. Written
for at least 300 years, and sung for a good deal longer, it's one of
Kenya's most enduring art forms. An Anthology of Swahili Poetry has been
compiled and rather woodenly translated by Ali A Jahadmy (o/p), but some
of Swahili's best-known classical compositions from the Lamu archipelago
are included, with pertinent background. There's a more enjoyable
anthology of romantic and erotic verse, A Choice of Flowers , with Jan
Knappert 's idiosyncratic translations and interpretations (o/p), and
the same linguist's Four Centuries of Swahili Verse (Darf, UK & US),
which expounds and creatively interprets at much greater length.
Up-country poetry in the sense of written verse is a recent form. But
oral folk literature was often relayed in the context of music, rhythm
and dance.
Wole Soyinka (editor) Poems of Black Africa (Heinemann, UK). A hefty and
catholic selection. Its Kenyan component includes the work of Abangira,
Jared Angira, Jonathan Kariara and Amin Kassam.
Heinemann Book of African Poetry (Heinemann, UK/US). Includes the work
of Kenyan poet Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye.
Kenya in modern western fiction
Justin Cartwright Masai Dreaming (Picador, UK/Random House, US). A
compelling novel juxtaposing a film-maker's vision of Maasai-land with
the barbarities of the Holocaust, linked by the tapes of a Jewish
anthropologist.
Jeremy Gavron Moon (Penguin, UK). Vivid short novel about a white boy
growing up on a farm during the Emergency.
Martha Gellhorn The Weather in Africa (Eland, UK). Three absorbing
novellas, each dealing with aspects of the Europe-Africa relationship,
set on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, in the "White Highlands" of Kenya and
on the tourist coast north of Mombasa.
David Lambkin The Hanging Tree (Penguin, UK/Counterpoint, US). A human-nature-through-the-ages
saga which makes a good yarn - in fact, several yarns.
John Le Carré The Constant Gardener (Hodder Headline, UK). The spymaster
turns his hand to a whodunnit, in which a campaigner against the
misdeeds of Western drug companies in Kenya is raped and murdered. Her
husband, a British diplomat in Nairobi, fails to believe official
explanations and starts his own investigation. Effectively banned in
Kenya, the novel is brilliantly crafted, though not always convincing in
its portrayal of today's expat society.
Paul Meyer Herdsboy (Northwest Publishing, US). American tourist "finds
herself captive of a native tribe". A pacey first novel, set in Samburu-land,
that overcomes the jacket description.
Maria Thomas Come to Africa and Save Your Marriage (Serpent's Tail, UK/Soho
Press, US). Most of these tales are set in Kenya or Tanzania. Thomas's
characters are solid, but the stories leave a wearying aftertaste as if
there were nothing positive to be had from the expatriate experience.
Her first novel, Antonia Saw the Oryx First , is painfully detailed - a
good antidote to Out of Africa .
Barbara Wood Green City in the Sun (Pan, UK) A white settler family come
into conflict with a Kikuyu medicine woman in one of the few credible
novels about the realities of colonial Kenya by a mzungu writer.
History and peoples
To begin, select a topic in the navigation bar to the left
Arts
Jane Barbour and Simiyu Wandibba Kenyan Pots and Potters (o/p). This
comprehensive description of pot-making communities includes techniques,
training, marketing and sociological perspectives.
Roy Braverman Islam and Tribal Art (o/p). A useful paperback text for
the dedicated.
Susan Denyer African Traditional Architecture (Holmes & Meier, UK).
Useful and interesting, with hundreds of photos (most of them old) and
detailed line drawings.
Frank Willett African Art (Thames & Hudson, UK/US). An accessible volume;
good value, with a generous illustrations-text ratio.
Geoffrey Williams African Designs from Traditional Sources (Dover, UK/US).
A designer's and enthusiast's sourcebook, from the copyright-free
publishers.
Mountain, hiking and diving guides
Paul Clarke Mountains of Kenya (Mountain Club of Kenya). A detailed and
practical guide, comprehensively updated since its earlier incarnation
and well worth buying if you plan to do any Kenyan hiking.
David Else Trekking in East Africa (Lonely Planet, UK/US). Well-produced
guide to hiking in the region, with good coverage of Mount Kenya and
less extensive coverage of other areas.
Guide Book to Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro (Mountain Club of Kenya). For
fully equipped alpinism, this is indispensable.
Anton Koornhof The Dive Sites of East Africa (New Holland, UK). Highly
recommended if you're at all taken by snorkelling or diving, with
detailed text on each and every major site in Kenya, Tanzania and
Zanzibar, beautifully illustrated and with thoughtful sections on
environmental matters. One to make you dream.
Coffee-table books
Mohamed Amin Cradle of Mankind and Portrait of Kenya (Camerapix, UK).
Stunning photographs of the Lake Turkana region, by the award-winning
maverick photo-journalist Amin, killed in the Comoros plane hijack in
1997.
Anne Arthus-Bertrand and Anne Spoerry, photos by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Kenya from the Air (Thames and Hudson, UK/Vendome, US). Superb images of
the country from the eagle's viewpoint.
Mitsuaki Iwago Serengeti (Chronicle, US). Stunning scenes and portraits
from Serengeti (the Tanzanian continuation of the Maasai Mara) from a
master photographer. Simply the best volume of wildlife photography ever
assembled, this makes most glossies look feeble. If you're trying to
persuade someone to visit East Africa - or if any aesthetic argument
were needed to preserve the parks and animals - this is the book to use.
David Keith Jones Shepherds of the Desert (Hamish Hamilton, UK).
Brilliant photos (many in black and white), with a text more lucid and
less superficial than most glossies; this book concerns itself only with
northern Kenya.
Brian Jackman and Jonathan Scott The Marsh Lions (o/p). Beautifully
produced and painstakingly researched study of the lions and other
animals around the Musiara Marsh in Maasai Mara.
Tepilit Ole Saitoti and Carol Beckwith Maasai (Harvill, UK/Abradale
Press, US). The Maasai coffee-table book; some photos are too much to
take at reading distance. Exquisite, but largely staged, portraits of
Maasai culture (and even Beckwith's camera can't disguise the tourist
souvenirs in the background). Variably interesting, chauvinistic text,
which plays the cult value of the Maasai for all it's worth.
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