MEJA MWANGI - AUTHOR OF THE WEEK

 

Biography

Meja Mwangi was born in Nanyuki, Kenya, in 1948. He was educated at Nanyuki Secondary School, Kenyatta College, and, much later, at Leeds University, leaving without graduating. He worked for French television in Nairobi and for the British Council. He was Fellow in Writing at Iowa University (1975-6). His work in the film industry includes writing, assistant directing, casting and location management. He worked on such films as Out of Africa (1985), Gorillas in the Mist (1985), White Mischief (1988), Kitchen Toto (1987), and Shadow On The Sun (1988). His first novel, Kill Me Quick , was published in 1973 and won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize (Kenya) in 1974, and will soon be made into a feature film. His novel, Carcase for Hounds (1974), was also made into a film - Cry Freedom . Meja's books for children include Little White Man (1990) and The Hunter's Dream (1993). Translated into several languages, Little White Man has won major awards in Germany and France, and in Canada and the US.

Meja Mwangi's novel, The Last Plague (2000), explores the AIDS pandemic and its effects on a small village. It won the 2001 Jomo Kenyatta Prize (Kenya) and was shortlisted for the 2002 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

 

Meja Mwangi's The Boy Gift , published under the E.A.E.P secondary readers series, scooped the third prize in the adult fiction category in this years Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature. Mwangi's novella brims with humour and artistic subtlety, so much that Prof. Emilia Ilieva, who announced the results of the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature, paid glowing tribute to the sublimity of its rendition.

“This is a well written story, sparkling with humour, about human ambition that is as laughable as it is elusive. The greatest strengths of the novella lie in its memorably drawn characters; the fresh, inimitable dialogues; the masterfully created scenes and settings,” the Professor of Literature said on behalf of the panel of judges . Meja Mwangi's other books, which include Kill Me Quick and The Last Plague have won awards in the past.

Bibliography

Kill Me Quick Heinemann Educational, 1973

Carcase for Hounds Heinemann Educational, 1974

Taste of Death East African Publishing House (Kenya), 1975

Going Down River Road, Heinemann Educational, 1976

Striving for the Wind, Heinemann Kenya, 1990

The Last Plague, East African Educational Publishers, 2000

Mountain of Bones, East African Educational Publishers, 2001

The Boy Gift, East African Educational Publishers, 2006

Mama Dudu, the Insect Woman HM Books, 2007

 

 

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