The origins
If the Great Rift Valley that crosses Kenya is considered the cradle of humanity, the region - larger than the borders drawn by man and which should be extended as far as Tanzania - is also the one that saw the emergence of a language, Kiswahili (the language of the coast), and a poetic form, Utendi (or Utenzi). The former was born of the encounter between the language of the indigenous Bantu peoples and the vocabulary of merchants from the Arabian Peninsula, with whom trade intensified in the 10th century, while the latter is based on a metric that is still highly appreciated today: quatrains in which the first three lines rhyme together, with the fourth echoing throughout the poem.
It was in the Lamu archipelago, and more specifically on the island of Pate, that Kiswahili was first written in Arabic characters (ajemi literature), as it was only with the arrival of missionaries at the end of the 19th century that it was transposed into the Latin alphabet. It was in the royal palace of Yunga that Mwengo is said to have composed Utendu wa Tambuka for the king of the island, one of the oldest manuscripts in Swahili - known here as kiamu - in which the epic of Mohammed's warriors is recounted. The island of Pate is also said to be the birthplace of a legendary hero, Fumo Liyongo, whose adventures have nourished both oral tradition and a large body of written texts. Finally, the archipelago witnessed the birth of a great poetess, Mwana Kupona, in the early 19th century. Although her life is poorly documented, the utendi that bears her name remains famous. In it, the author advises her daughter on the role of wife, and imbues her words with a mystical tone. Around the same time, another work appeared, miraculously saved from oblivion thanks to a transcription made by Mwalimu Sikujua, a literary scholar from Mombasa, at the request of a missionary, William Taylor. This collection was written by Muyaka (1776-1840), a poet who is often described as a nationalist because he used his verses to challenge the growing power of the Sultan of Oman, but who also took the liberty of tackling other powerful themes, such as love and prosperity. Last but not least, we should mention the multi-talented poet Muhammad Kimjuwa (1855-1945), who brought the taarab (now tarabu) from Zanzibar to his native Lamu, a singing competition in which improvisation was poetic and sometimes teasing.
At the very end of the 19th century, a man destined to become an author and President of the Republic was born. It was in what was then a British colony that Jomo Kenyatta was raised by his parents, and then, on their death, by his uncle and grandfather. He left Gatundu in 1920, first for Nairobi, then abroad. Fresh from his studies in Anthropology in London, in 1938 he published his thesis, Au pied du mont Kenya, an invaluable document on the way of life of the ethnic group from which he came, the Kikuyus, but also a diatribe against the Europeans who had colonized Africa. This anger resurfaced when, back in his homeland, he became involved in the independence movement, which led to his imprisonment when a state of emergency was declared in reprisal for the Mau Mau revolt in 1952. The colonial government eventually released him almost ten years later, deeming him capable of managing the independence that had become unavoidable. Jomo Kenyatta proclaimed independence in December 1963 and was elected President the following year, a position he held until his death in 1978.
The effervescence
The pre- and post-independence period saw an upsurge in publications focusing on political events, of course, but also, and more broadly, on folklore and societal issues. One of these forerunners is all too often forgotten, even though his career in the book trade lasted over 50 years and also led to his imprisonment for publishing anti-colonial pamphlets that he had written in Swahili so that as many people as possible - including colonists - could read them. However, what makes Gakaara wa Wanjaū (1921-2001) so special is that he devoted himself to promoting Kikuyu culture and was one of the few to use this language, especially in his works aimed at the new generation. He was the first to set up an association of Kenyan writers, theAfrican Book Writers Ltd. in 1946, and was also a publisher of books and magazines, keen to offer his publications at modest prices. But it was his Journal - 7,000 pages long! - which he kept while in prison, won him the Noma Prize in 1984, although those who acclaimed him at the time took little interest in his other literary works, and ended up regretting that he, the fervent admirer of the moderate Jomo Kenyatta, was not more radical in his commitment.
The idea of publishing these intimate documents was the fruit of his meeting with Ngugi wa Thiong'o, born in Kamirithu in January 1938, who is now considered Kenya's greatest writer, the one he influenced and who continued to write in Kikuyu. Most of his work was political, as in his first novel, published in 1962 and published in French by Passage(s) under the title Ne pleure pas, mon enfant. The writer follows the footsteps of a teenager coming of age at the very moment when his country is fighting for independence. Thiong'o was in Uganda at the time, studying at Makerere University, renowned for training many women and men of letters. He then moved to Leeds to continue his studies, and set about researching Joseph Conrad. His A Grain of Wheat (1967) was already a great success, but it was Pétales de sang (éditions Présence africaine) that finally brought him international recognition ten years later. That same year, 1977, he wrote a play performed in Kikuyu, Ngaahika Ndeenda(I'll get married when I want to), which looks at post-independence Kenya and the legacy of colonialism. Unhappy with the government, Thiong'o is sent to prison, along with Ngugi wa Mirii, the work's co-author. Imprisonment made Thiong'o all the more critical of the powers that be, who would not leave him in peace: in 1982, his new play Maitu Njugira was not only banned, but the theater where it was to be performed was razed to the ground! The writer then opted for exile, from which he would not return until 2004, to his great misfortune since a few days after his return, he and his wife were seriously attacked. Thiong'o has also published essays, including Pour décoloniser l'esprit (published by La Fabrique), in which he explains that he will no longer write in English but only in his own language, Kikuyu, and, more recently, Pour une Afrique libre, published in translation by Philippe Rey in 2017.
The generation to which he belongs, that of the 30s and 40s, also saw the birth of women destined for successful literary careers. Their eldest is Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye who, although originally from England, made Kenya her heartland. A reciprocal adoption that earned her the nickname of "the mother of Kenyan literature", given the quality of her novels and her commitment to local cultural life. A Farm called Kishinev, published in 2005, was awarded the Jomo Kenyatta Prize. The reputation of her younger sister, Grace Ogot (1930-2015), has spread far beyond the country's borders, although French readers cannot discover her works in their own language. She is a writer of folklore, which she sometimes pushes to the point of sociological study, as in The strange Bridge, where she examines the culture of Luo country. Her first novel, The Promised Land, explored the 1930s and the delicate question of marriage. Rebeka Njau is also interested in women's issues, from excision in her play The Scar to the weight of patriarchy in The Sacred Seed. In 1977, she published The Hypocrite and other Stories, a collection of her country's oral traditions. Charity Wanjiku Waciuma and Asenath Bole Odaga are also active in children's literature. Finally, it would be impossible not to mention the influential poet and playwright Micere Githae Mugo, who had to resign herself to exile under Daniel arap Moi's rule, an extremity to which novelist Philo Ikonya and feminist activist Wanjiru Kihoro also had to bow.
New life
The rich '70s also saw the talents of Charles Mangua (1939-2021), who sold several thousand copies of his irreverent Son of Woman and A tail in the Mouth, Meja Mwangi, author of the cult novel Going down River Road, playwright Francis Davis Imbuga(Betrayal in the City) and the ever-popular David G. Maillu(After 4:30). After a period of relative decline, in 2003 Kwani? was launched by the eponymous collective, just after the 2002 elections had raised hopes of change. One of the aims of this innovative publication was to shed light on a memory that had been swept under the carpet, and in its first issue it published the short story A Likely Story, in which Andia Kisia portrayed the devastating turpitudes of a historian. Kwani? also published works by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, born in 1968 in Nairobi, whose novel Dust received international critical acclaim and was translated by Actes Sud in 2017(La Maison au bout des voyages). A new generation of authors is ready to take up the baton, all the more so as today's Kenyans are keen to discover African writers, including at least two winners of the prestigious Caine Prize: Okwiri Oduor in 2014 for My Father's Head, and Makena Onjerika in 2018 for Fanta Blackcurrant. Last but not least, Binyavanga Wainaina, who passed away prematurely in 2019 at the age of 49, was also certainly destined for a fine career, and one of his texts can be found in L'Afrique qui vient, published in 2020 by Alain Mabanckou (Editions Hoëbeke), an anthology that gives a very clear idea of the quality of writers on the African continent today.
