Binyavanga Wainaina facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Binyavanga Wainaina
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Wainaina at the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival.
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| Born |
Kenneth Wainaina
18 January 1971 Nakuru, Kenya
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| Died | 21 May 2019 (aged 48) Nairobi, Kenya
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| Nationality | Kenyan |
| Education | Moi Primary School; Mangu High School; Lenana School; University of Transkei; University of East Anglia |
| Occupation | Memoirist, short-story writer, editor |
| Known for | Founding editor of literary magaxine Kwani? |
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Notable work
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| Awards | 2002 Caine Prize |
Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina (born January 18, 1971 – died May 21, 2019) was a famous Kenyan author and journalist. He won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2002. In 2003, he helped start and became the first editor of Kwani?, a well-known literary magazine. In 2014, Time magazine named him one of the "Most Influential People in the World."
Contents
Early Life and School
Binyavanga Wainaina was born on January 18, 1971, in Nakuru, Kenya. He went to Moi Primary School, then Mangu High School, and Lenana School. Later, he studied business at the University of Transkei in South Africa, where he moved in 1991. He also earned a special degree in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in 2010.
His first book, a memoir called One Day I Will Write About This Place, came out in 2011. A memoir is a book where someone tells stories from their own life.
His Career as a Writer
After finishing his studies, Wainaina worked in Cape Town, South Africa. He wrote articles about food and travel for different publications.
In July 2002, he won the Caine Prize for his short story called "Discovering Home." This prize is very important for African writers. Wainaina was also the first editor of Kwani?, a literary magazine in East Africa. He started it in 2003. Kwani? quickly became a key place for new writers from Africa to share their stories.
Wainaina wrote a funny and smart essay called "How to Write About Africa" in 2005. It was published in Granta magazine and became very popular. In this essay, he made fun of how Western media often uses old, untrue ideas about Africa. He pointed out that some writers treat Africa as if it were just one country. They might say its 900 million people are "too busy starving and dying and warring" to read books. He showed how these ideas create unfair stereotypes.
In 2003, the Kenya Publishers Association gave him an award. This was to honor his important work for Kenyan literature. He wrote for many well-known newspapers and magazines. These included The EastAfrican, National Geographic, The Sunday Times (South Africa), Granta, The New York Times, Chimurenga, and The Guardian (UK).
Wainaina also spent time teaching and working at different colleges. In 2007, he was a writer-in-residence at Union College in the USA. In 2008, he was at Williams College, where he taught and worked on a novel. He was also a special fellow and director at the Chinua Achebe Center for African Literature and Languages at Bard College.
He loved food and collected over 13,000 recipes from all over Africa. He was an expert on both traditional and modern African cuisine.
In 2007, the World Economic Forum chose Wainaina as a "Young Global Leader." This award is for people who might help shape the future of the world. However, he decided not to accept the award. He explained that as a writer, it was important for him to stay free and creative. He felt that accepting such an award would make it seem like he was pretending to have a huge impact on world affairs, which wasn't his main goal as a writer.
Later Life and Passing
Binyavanga Wainaina passed away at age 48 on May 21, 2019. He died after having a stroke at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi. He had experienced several strokes since 2016.
Selected Books and Articles
- "Discovering Home" (short story), 2001.
- "Beyond the River Yei: Life in the Land Where Sleeping is a Disease" (photographic essay), 2004.
- "How To Write About Africa" (article, satire), Granta 92, 2005.
- "In Gikuyu, for Gikuyu, of Gikuyu" (article, satire), Granta 103, 2008.
- "How to Write About Africa II: The Revenge", Bidoun, 2010.
- One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir (autobiography), 2011.
- "Viewpoint: Binyavanga on why Africa's international image is unfair", BBC News | Africa, 2012.
- "A Letter to All Kenyans from Binyavanga Wainaina or Binyavanga wa Muigai" (essay), Brittle Paper, 2017.
See also
In Spanish: Binyavanga Wainaina para niños
- LGBT rights in Kenya
