Titled after the short story by the 8th winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, Uganda’s Monica Arac de Nyeko, the Jambula Tree anthology contains the latest in African writing with a selection of stories from across the continent. The book includes 18 short stories– the winner and shortlist (5 stories) plus 12 stories written at the Caine Prize writers workshop held in April 2008 in South Africa. The stories deal with love, war, manhood, marriage and the African urban experience.

Monica Arac de Nyeko is from Uganda. She was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African writing in 2004 for Strange Fruit, winning the prize in 2007 for “Jambula Tree”.

Kingwa Kamencu is a writer based in Kenya. Her first book To Grasp at a Star won the National Book Development Council Award 2003, The Wahome Mutahi Prize 2006 and the prestigious Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literarure 2007. She was one of the two Kenyans nominated Rhodes Scholar to Oxford where she will be proceeding for further studies later in the year. She serves as deputy secretary general in PEN International’s Kenya Chapter and writes for the authoritative media monitoring magazine Xpression Today (E.T). She writes poetry, essays and fiction.

Kaume Marambii is a self-employed businessman running an agri-business in Kenya called Golden Acres Ltd. He has a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Nairobi, a post-graduate Diploma in Information Technology from the University of Sunderland, UK. He was also a 2003-2004 Reuters Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford University, USA. This is his first work of fiction.

Entry ksh300. Free entry before 6.30pm. KARIBUNI

Mshai Mwangola will host the night and will read poetry from Stephen Partington and Marjorie Oludhe.

Neema Ngwatilo Mawiyoo grew up singing in church in Nairobi, Kenya, but it was while at university that Ngwatilo’s relationship with music took a definitive turn. She embarked on a quest for self that took her to Johannesburg, South Africa to study the role of Kwaito music in shaping post-apartheid urban youth identity. There Ngwatilo found the stuff of poems spewing out of impassioned exchanges with friends, thick in the air at a particular Jozi reading, and alone with her on the road between Venda and Johannesburg. There was little to do but hold on. Her poetry appears on Kwani? 05. http://www.myspace.com/ngwatilo.

Muthoni Garland is the author of the novella, Tracking the Scent of My Mother, published by Storymoja among other stories. She has contributed to Kwani? 05.

Samuel Munene is a freelance writer. He has contributed to Kwani? 05.

Billy Kahora is Kwani? and Special Projects Editor. He also writes fiction and has recently completed an MS.c in Creative Writing with distinction and as a Chevening Scholar at the University of Edinburgh.
Billy studied and worked in South Africa for 8 years. After leaving South Africa Billy wrote ‘The True Story of David Munyakei’, an extended non-fiction piece with literary elements for Kwani? and joined the organization to spearhead a new kind of journalism: a journalism that can go beyond the dry official voices of the last 40 years and open up the new socio-cultural and socio-political spaces that are emerging in the country by the use of literary elements. He has been published in Vanity Fair, Cape Times, the Mail and Guardian and the East African Standard. He has also extensively covered the youth hip-hop scene in Nairobi for the British Council’s WAPI (Words and Pictures) landmark project. He was recently highly commended for his short story, ‘Treadmill Love’ by the 2007 Caine Prize judges. He is currently working on a novel based on his short story, ‘The Applications’ published in Kwani? 3 and is also collaborating on a non-fiction book on environmental corruption in Kenya.

Born in 1975 in the north Ugandan town of Aboke, David Kaiza lived in Kampala for 21 years because of the war and attended Makerere University which he graduated from in 1999. He worked as a journalist for the regional newspaper, The EastAfrican for many years where he was also a literary-cultural critic. A fine artist as well, he also did some television work where he was a story teller as well as animator. He has some experience in craftsmanship, particularly brass which has a history – although forgotten – where he was born. His publication in the forthcoming Kwani? 05 is his first lengthy creative output.

Muthoni Garland is the author of the novella, Tracking the Scent of My Mother, published by Storymoja. She is also a member of Concerned Kenyan Writers, a coalition whose purpose is to use our writing skills to help save Kenya in this polarized time.

Isabella Mugo is 23 years old. She has just completed four years as the University of Nairobi, pursuing a degree in Literature and Sociology. She loves to read and write, among very many other things.

Renee Mboya writes for www.kenyaimagine.com. She came back to Nairobi half a decade ago after a childhood in exile on a dusty farm, in an industrial town, on the slopes of Kilimambogo; and found it spoke to her soul. She will never again eat pineapples. She has recently embarked on a second half-degree (the first being semi-Law) in International Relations and is (at present) excited enough to consider completing it. She reads all the time and writes when she can.

Eudiah Kamonjo is a 24 year old poetess and journalist with a wide range of interests.She is passionate about books and art in all its forms, writing, traveling, photography, dancing and exercise. She completed her Mass Communication studies in July 2005 and has been an active journalist since then. Eudiah has worked as a writer and editor for magazines like Homes Kenya Magazine, joining Oakland Media Services in 2006, where she worked on a myriad of publications, including Eve Magazine, Sokoni, and Eve Girl. She is also a member of PEN Kenya Chapter and is currently a correspondent on entertainment, arts, lifestyle, business, health and women’s’ issues for various print and online publications.

Eudiah Kamonjo’s themes range from sexuality, spirituality, women and children issues. For 2008, she has been working on a poetry collection based on passion, desire, abuse and sexual identity; aspects of sexuality that have been ignored and will be highlighted in the collection titled ‘Not In Jeans’. She is also working on short stories on varying themes.

Onduko bw’ Atebe emerged on the literary scene late 2005 with the publication of his book: The Verdict of Death. In 2006, the book was nominated and went on to win the biggest prize in the country – The Whome Mutahi Literary Award.

A fervent believer in the writing and reading faith, Atebe has since then gone on to join and work with other writers and writers’ organizations that profess, promote and spread the gospel. He is the Secretary General of the Kenya Organization of Writers’ Association (KOWA) He is also the secretary to the Literary Awards committee, run by the National Book Development council of Kenya (NBDC-K). Last but not least, he was recently elected the Vice President of International Pen – Kenya Chapter.

Philo Ikonya is a journalist and media consultant. She is a linguist and understands Latin, Kiswahili, Gikuyu, Spanish, and Italian. She was also recently elected as the President of International Pen – Kenya Chapter.

Margaret Ogola has won the Commonwealth Best First Book in Africa and the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 1995 for her first novel The River and the Source. She has since published two other novels, I Swear by Apollo and Place of Destiny. Margaret Ogola is a pediatrician and the medical director for The Cottolengo Centre for orphaned children.

David Kaiza is a Ugandan writer based in Kampala. After working as a journalist for several years with the Daily Monitor, he took a two year hiatus from writing and became a metal worker. This story marks his return to the pen.

Trained as a journalist, Stanley Gazemba lives in Kangemi, Nairobi and writes for Sunday Nation and Msanii Magazine. He is the author of The Stone Hills of Maragoli, which won the 2003 Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature, as well as 5 children’s books. He will be reading from his latest book, Grandmother’s Winning Smile.

Bantu Mwaura is an award winning performing artist from Kenya, a director, a playwright, a poet and a storyteller. His poetry has been published in several collections and anthologies, and his plays have been performed in Kenya , Zimbabwe, the USA and the UK. His work is featured in Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits an anthology.

Kalundi Serumaga is a Ugandan journalist who spent much of his childhood in Kenya. He lives in Kampala, where he works as a media columnist and radio talk show host. His work has been published in After the Vote and Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits.

Gitura Kamau is a young Nairobi theatre and film actor who has recently begun to direct his own movies. His first feature film, “Wangai’s Cross,” was shot in Nairobi and premiered June 18th, 2008. Kamau is currently involved in several film projects, including his second film, “Odohoz.”

Makena Ringera (formerly known to use ‘Jackline’ but discarded it after discovering herself to be African) took pen to paper at age 15. The result of that effort was ‘The Mystery of the Twin Webs’, a fantasy novel laced with thrilling adventures, a pinch of romance and some bad grammar. Good luck sent Makena across the Atlantic to Amherst College in 2006 where she is a devote Economics student. Having learned a thing or two in creative writing classes, she is working on a rewrite of ‘Twin Webs’.

Al Kags is the publisher of The Quarterly Colour Series of Poetry, a poetry ebook series that is now distributed virally to over 160,000 people all over the world. He has been writing since he was twelve and has been a regular columnist and feature writer in various publications both in Kenya and Internationally.

Peter Chepkonga grew up in Eldoret and can run very fast. He writes for KASS magazine.

Dr. Abena P.A. Busia, co-director of the groundbreaking Women Writing Africa Project, a multi-volume anthology published by the feminist Press at CUNY. As Busia points out, “history is located in multiple places”. This collection is designed to recognize “cultural production” of African and Indian women for the first time. She is also co-editor of Women Writing Africa: West Africa and the Sahel, (The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2005). In addition to her leadership of the Women Writing Africa project, Professor Busia is the author of Theorising Black feminisms (Routledge, 1993) and many articles and book chapters on topics including black women’s writing, black feminist criticism, and African literature. Her scholarship keeps her actively connected to her native Ghana, where a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Grant enabled Busia and two historians to lead an interdisciplinary program on “Teaching the History of Slave Trade Routes of Ghana and Benin”. She is now at work on a book called Song in a Strange land: Narrative and Rituals of Remembrance in the Novels of Black Women of Africa and the African Diaspora. A poet and short story writer as well as a scholar, Busia has published a poetry collection called Testimonies of Exile. She serves on the advisory board of the Ghana Education Project, as well as the board of the African Women’s Development Fund, the first and only pan-African funding source for women-centered programs and organisations. She teaches courses in African-American and African Diaspora Literature.

Dr. Hope Eghagha, better known as a poet, is equally a novelist and playright. A senior lecturer in the Department of English, University of Lagos, he is also a visiting member of The Guardian Newspaper Editorial Board.

An Urhobo from Delta State of Nigeria, the 1982 graduate of Theatre Arts, Unijos, has so far published six literary works. His debut was a play, Death, Not a Redeemer, in 1998. Others include four collections of poetry: Rhythm of the Last Testament, This Story must not be told, The Governor’s Lodge, and Premonitions and other Dreams. His novel is entitled Emperors of Salvation.

Yusef Komunyakaa was born 1947 and raised in Bogalusa, Louisiana. Served in Vietnam as an information specialist, saw combat, and received the Bronze Star. A graduate of the University of Colorado, he also received masters degrees form the University of California, Irvine as well as Colorado State University. After teaching at the University of New Orleans, Komunyakaa was a professor at Indiana University. In 1997, he began teaching at Princeton University where he is a professor in the Council of Humanities and Creative Writing. Wesleyan has published six of his ten books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Neo-Vernacular (1993), which also won the Kingsley-Tufts Poetry Award from the Claremont Graduate School, Magic City (1992), and Dien Cai Cau (1998). In 1991, he won the Thomas Forcade award; in 1993 was nominated of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry; in 1994 received the William Faulkner Prize from the University of Rennes in France; in 1997 he was awarded the Levinson Prize from Poetry Magazine and the Hanes Poetry Prize. His new book from Wesleyan is Thieves of Paradise. In 1999, Yusef Komunyakaa was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Siphiwo Mahala is a South African writer who has also published articles in national newspapers and magazines such as Sunday Times, The Deal, Classic Feel, etc. He has contributed short stories to several anthologies including Nobody Ever Said AIDS: Poems and Stories from Southern Africa( Kwela 2004); A is for Ancestors: Stories from the Caine Prize (Jacana, 2004), and Words Gone Two Soon: A Tribute to Phaswane Mpe and K. Sello Duiker (Stotaville Media, 2005). He joined the National Department of Arts and Culture as the deputy Director for Books and Publishing in 2004. His academic qualifications include a BA Honours degree from Fort Hare University, Alice, and a Master of Arts degree in African Literature from Wits University, Johanesburg. He also holds Creative Writing certificates from Rhodes University, Grahamstown and Lancaster University, London. He is the recipient of the 2006 Ernst Van Heerden Creative Writing Award for his first novel, When a Man Cries(UKZN Press; 2007). Upon presenting the award, Prof Belinda Bozzoli remarked, “When a Man Cries offers vivid insight into the painful rhythms and experiential pressures of township life, while contriving to include flashes of dark or even slapstick humour”.

Hand in hand with this is the distrust we have cultivated between us. The very first minutes of any conversation are filled with suscipiscion, doubting every word being said. It is as if the truth no longer exists. This is not surprising considering most of us are dishonest and think everybody is the same. There are some of us, however who still treat the truth as a virtue, and dare not tell a lie.

Take me for instance. If I told you that I am Obama’s nephew you would surely not believe me…but that is the truth. Barrack Obama, the US Democratic presidential nominee is my uncle…my maternal uncle. I won’t waste time telling you how I dug up my family history and discovered one of Obama’s great grandfathers had an affair with one of my grandmothers….that is too rudimentary a method prove my linkage to Obama.

I will use science and in particular genetics. Those who know me well, will agree that I share, with Obama, one of his very unique and astonishing traits, indeed the trait that won him the votes. I am talking about the Look Off Into The Future Pose. You know how Obama talks…he says something like ” America needs change we can believe in” then keeps quiet for some time, looks at the crowd, his gaze transfixed at some point, then slightly raises his head,before looking to the left ….and the crowd after a second or two bursts in applause….That is the Look Off Into The Future Pose .It is not by coincidence that I have a similar pose, its in the genes. Or how else do you explain the fact I bend my head at the same angle as Obama…that I have the same hypnotizing effect on crowds?

Not long ago, a think tank , which of course doesnt wish my uncle well, was claiming that he practices this “Look Off Into The Future Pose”. Listen to what they were saying…. “Obama practices the Look Off Into Future pose….it involves him standing upright with his back arched and his chest thrust out, his shoulders positioned 1.3 feet apart and opened slightly at a 14-degree angle, and his eyes transfixed on a predetermined point between 20 and 27 meters away. This creates the illusion that Obama is looking forward to a bright future, while the downturned corners of his lips indicate that he acknowledges the problems of the present.

If he looks up an inch too high, he appears aloof or confused. If he looks down too low, it appears that he is distracted by the future. If the curvature of his upper lip is not at the exact 0.87-centimeter radius, it reads that he does not care about preserving the environment for future generations.

The pose also requires Obama to arch his eyebrows at 32-degree angles, open his mouth to prevent the misconception that he is frowning about the future, and briefly flare his nostrils to convey faith in the nation’s children.

He must then clench his jaw with enough force to express strength and decisiveness-if he uses too much force, his forehead vein becomes visible and makes it appear as though he is in physical pain, doubtful of the future. Every millimeter of that head vein costs him 150,000 votes.

When looking to the future, he looks to the left, Looking to the right is an I-am-sorry-for-the-mistakes-I’ve-made-in-the-past-but-promise-to-work-my-hardest-for- this-nation-from-now-on pose. ”

Certainly all this is true expect the claim that he practices the look. The think tank evidently doesn’t know of my existence, for if it did, it would be obvious to them thats its not possible for two completely different people to practice this pose, down to the last degree & millimeter. The pose is in the genes.

That proved I wonder why no media organization has been seeking to interview me, yet I am the only of Obama’s relatives who is almost, if not exactly like him. I mean the only one with his kind of brain, character and most important, Look Off Into The Future Pose.

All the media does, is talk to so called scholars of the US political space, who discuss such serious topics as “Obamania : Is Africa Desperate For A Messiah” or ” Obama Win: Prove That Americans Are Without Hope”

The other day one of these scholars, a distinguished professor and an authority on the new field of ” Obama-nism and Black Expression” , was on national television betting his balls that if Obama wins the elections the F word in hip hop, and generally in black lingua would be replaced by the word “Change”. Isn’t that ridiculous? For a start its bad English and doesn’t have the same semantic punch. Just think of the once in a week times when your boss pisses you and you end up using the F word to curse her… now replace the F with the word “change”….it surely doesn’t have the same effect, its simply too polite. A more practical prediction would have been to suggest that if Obama wins the F word would be replaced by its Luo equivalent….those who know the luo word will agree it would be a masterpiece, both when used semantically and as a curse.

Talking of the latter I know there are many people falling head over heels to honor my uncle. Some of them are doing this by naming their animals, and especially cattle, after him. This is not only an insult but in bad taste. What legacy will a cow leave? Shitting and providing manure or farting carbon monoxide and polluting the environment?…Should my uncle ,who is campaigning on a green platform, be associated with such?..A more respectable way to honour my uncle would be to name your children after him. You surely can’t compare human beings, however evil they may eventually become, with animals. There are those who may argue that you need to plan for children, and unless you had seen his victory coming, and taken the right measures, you don’t have a ready child who can be named, after him. But there is still time and opportunity. We are in June, if you stick long enough in the bedroom with your partner, come February next year you will be a proud parent of a newborn, who you will name Obama…there will be no better way to celebrate my uncle’s second month in office. And yes Obama is a unisexual name.

Now that uncle has won the nomination, he is surely going to ask my guidance on the best way to conduct the remainder of the campaigns and the first few months in office. What follows is a draft of the email, with my advice, that I plan to send him.

Dear uncle,

Let’s not waste time and go directly to business. Below are some of the issues you should think about:

Religion:

I hear that seven out of ten Americans say they want their president to have a strong faith. And here too we like to have our leaders attend Sunday service .So its time you joined another church, now that you disowned Reverend Wright’s Trinity United Church. You can’t trust those American churches, just see how close Wright was to bringing you down or what uproar John Hagee generated by endorsing McCain. Something must be amiss with those American pastors. Why not join a Kenyan church? I know someone may have told you that most of our churches are places of raising money than of worship. But there are some pure churches, undiluted by worldly pleasures and pursuits. You could join one of these. I suggest you join Dini ya Msambwa because its near your grandmothers home.I am sure the Democrats can afford to fly you to western Kenya every week for spiritual noursishment..Here you will rest assured that Mzee Namasaka Barasa, the senior pastor will not utter anything that will hurt your camapaign.He doesn’t speak English

Nerve:

Perhaps due to their state of insecurity, Americans want to have a brave president.That is why McCain won’t waste a chance to say he is a decorated war veteran, and Hilary Clinton claimed, wrongly, she dodged sniper fire in Bosnia. What about you uncle? Is there anything that shows you are a daring man? You told us that you used to smoke marijuana when you could afford it and Aunt Michelle told to us you snore and throw your socks on the floor. Unfortunately, uncle, that’s creates the illusion that you are a sissy. And no one wants a sissy for a president. Try think of something that will show you are tough.If you cant think of anything start by claiming you survived driving on Kenyan roads…if that doesn’t work you could say that you were tested for HIV at a rural clinic in Kenya, where there is no electricity, water… blah blah blah.You know what those working class voters think of Africa.. seize on that to show your heroism.As Hilary would say these “hardworking Americans, white Americans” might warm up to you.

Flag:

The American flag is associated with Republicans…..whenever people see the flag they see George Bush, they see Dick Cheney, they see Condoleezza Rice, they see war and destruction…You have to modify this flag to reflect your message of “change we can believe in” .The most acceptable way to do it is to merge the American and Kenyan flags ..The new flag would be a symbol of the might of the US and tameness of Africa…The only thing necessary would be to give the colours of the flag new meaning.

Both flags have the color red and the new flag must have it. Red certainly represents blood. In the new spirit of a harmonious humanity, the red in the new flag should not represent the blood shed by our respective freedom fighters. That would raise emotions. Instead it should represent the blood shed by our ancestors, Australopithecus, who fought dinosaurs and ensured the survival of humanity. Just don’t forget Kenya was the cradle of man.

Since America is not an agricultural nation the green on our flag, which certainly will be on the new one, will represent the mobile phone network that makes it possible for bilateral communication cooperation between the US and Africa..Not to mention free calls for your relatives

The meaning of white will be obvious: The purity of Dini ya Msambawa.This will encourage more of your country men to join the church, and you won’t be the only one in the congregation who doesn’t understand a thing being said by the pastor

Black will be for doom. What will happen if you don’t fulfill our expectations. And here Kenya’s and Africa exepectations.As for the Americans they will merely vote you out if you don’t fulfill your promises to them.

The navy blue from your present flag will represent the US Democratic Party, and our Party of National Unity.Too bad there is no orange..

The stars on your flag represent Americas 50 states. Here we don’t have states but 42 tribes…so the stars will be increased to 92

The press:

Don’t sound too bossy or meet the press on Sundays unless you want your supporters to start saying :

“Senator. Obama always wants to be throwing his opinion around about this bill or that law. . Every time a reporter takes him to task on one issue or another, he comes right back at him with some sort of smart answer. He needs to learn that sometimes you need to just accept your place; it’s not polite to always act like you know things. Not to mention the fact that, as a working man, a black working man, he should take those precious Sundays to spend some time with his family, not to meet with the press on national television.

And do please give Michael a call. I need come see you and the staff at the embassy have denied me a visa. They are treating me like any other Kenyan. They don’t know I am your nephew, the only of your relatives with the Look Off Into The Future pose.