Mbizo Chirasha interviews Alexander Nderitu

Who is Alexander Nderitu and when did you start to write?
I am a career writer who writes in multiple genres. I started to write at a very early age. More importantly, I started to read voraciously at a tender age. There was a KNLS library near our home and I loved to go there and spend hours browsing. My earliest attempts at creative writing came in primary school, when I was around 14 years old. I used to draw my own comic book characters, using a pencil or biro, and place the dialogue in word bubbles. I completed my first novel manuscript, When the Whirlwind Passes, when I was 19. I published it in digital format in 2001, which makes it Africa’s pioneering digital novel. I launched it in paperback form 20 years later.

How many books have you written so far and what are the titles?
Fifteen. More importantly, 10 of them were published in 2023 alone. I probably hold the record for the most books published by a single African author in one calendar year. But that record is yet to be verified. The titles of my books are as follows:

1. When the Whirlwind Passes

2. Kiss, Commander, Promise

3. The Moon is Made of Green Cheese

4. The Talking of Trees

5. Disco Matanga

6. Yuppies!

7. What's Wrong With This Picture?

8. The Stacy Walker Interview

9. Hannah And The Angel: Volume 1 - Angels 'R' Us

10. King Bure Is Dead!

11. A Body Made For Sin

12. Where The Kremlin Live

13. Kenyan Theatre: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

14. This Time With Feeling: Essays on Theatre

15. Hannah And The Angel Vol.2: Comedy Roast

The works include poetry, stage plays, a novel, short story collections, and two books of theatre criticism.

What are your thematic areas as you write your stories, poetry and essays?
I tackle a wide range of themes in my books and essays. My most popular book, Disco Matanga, explores love, loss, Pan-Africanism, nationalism, and colonial legacies in Africa. Its sequel, A Body Made For Sin, explores urban crime, justice, sexual exploitation, religious hypocrisy, African tribalism, corruption, environmental degradation, unemployment, and espionage. And those are just two books out of my 15. I endeavour to both educate and entertain. When somebody picks up an Alexander Nderitu book, I want them to have learnt something new by the time they put it down. Even my poetry is imbued with messages but I try to make it as enjoyable and stylistic as possible. I use humour as a stylistic device. Most of my stage plays are comedies.

Which ones of your writings are published internationally and can give a short list possibly?
My poem Someone in Africa Loves You appeared in Commonwealth Poetry Postcards (UK) during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland and has since been translated into four languages.  My short stories, poems, and articles have appeared in Hjänstorm (Sweden), Ars Artium (India), IFLAC: Peace Anthology (Israel), My Africa, My City: An Afridiaspora Anthology (Nigeria), World Poetry Almanac (Mongolia) and World Poetry Yearbook (China), One Million Project: Thriller Anthology (UK), Maintenant 16 (USA) and Agbowó (Nigeria). Most recently, I contributed a short story dubbed ‘Her Name Will Be Peace’ to the forthcoming 2023 Mukana Press Anthology which is to be released under the title Our Sister Who Art in America. Some of my works have been translated into Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Kiswahili, French, Swedish, Dholuo, Gikuyu, and Czech.

What are other artistic or creative projects you are doing currently off writing
Oh, yes. I am currently running my inaugural international writing contest dubbed The Alexander Nderitu Prize for World Literature. The Prize will be awarded to the best unpublished short story from anywhere in the world and is aimed at launching new literary stars. The submission window opened on 1 May 2024. The theme is ‘Peace’. I chose that theme with respect to the growing violence and unrest currently going on in the world, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza. I’ve always been a pacifist. R. Buckminster Fuller has a famous saying: ‘War is obsolete. We are not here to fight something or tear something down. We are here to be the example of what is possible. Any sane individual will tell you that violence is…not the way.’ Is all this bloodshed really necessary? The writing contest is open to citizens from all over the globe above 18 years of age. Entries must be previously unpublished and may be written in English or Kiswahili.

You have been at the helm of PEN Kenya, What activities are you doing at PEN Kenya and  what is the state of writing currently in Kenya?
Yes, I was the Deputy Secretary-General of the Kenyan chapter of PEN International for several years but I recently left in order to focus on my new cultural website, TheAfricanGriot.com. I remain an ordinary member of PEN International. The first part of the PEN Charter says: "LITERATURE knows no frontiers and must remain common currency among people in spite of political or international upheavals. IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, and particularly in time of war, works of art, the patrimony of humanity at large, should be left untouched by national or political passion." That's the guiding principle of my short story contest for The Alexander Nderitu Prize for World Literature. I want to contribute "a global literature."
As far as the state of writing in Kenya is concerned, I’d say we’re doing very well for an African nation. Africa currently publishers less than 3% of the world’s books. Kenya has a thriving self-publishing sector that is mostly driven by young, up-and-coming authors. They independently publish hundreds of books every year. The mainstream publishing sector caters mostly to the school market. We also have our own version of Amazon, called Nuria. It’s an innovative bookstore that efficiently sells books online and offline, pays authors on time, and helps market the books. Physical books tend to be rather expensive due to 16% VAT tax that the government has refused to scrap. We equate this levy to ‘taxing knowledge’, which is retrogressive in so-called ‘developing country’. Ironically, the government is the biggest buyer of books, which it then distributes to public schools! A couple of years ago, the Kenya Publishers Association tried to explain to the government that, as the biggest buyers, by taxing books they were taxing themselves but the argument fell on deaf ears.

Have you ever written anything on social justice, free speech and human rights?
The book that most deals with such themes as justice and human rights is The Talking of Trees. It’s a stage play about the life, times, and legacy of Prof. Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. As we follow the protagonist’s troubled life, we learn about the history of post-Independence Kenya, along with the shame of political prisoners, reduced democratic space, political assassinations, environmental destruction and institutionalized corruption.

How are human rights defenders treated in Kenya?
This might shock many people outside of Africa but Kenya is one of the most free nations on Earth. But that’s not saying much because in reality, human rights are often trampled on. Even in the West. We have a robust democracy, open Internet, the right to protest and picket, freedom of worship, freedom of movement, and so on. Kenya’s freedoms did not come easily and the struggle is far from over. From Independence in 1963 to the early 2000s, this was not a place where human rights were respect by the powers that were. There were political assassinations, detention without trial, state-sponsored torture chambers, banning of opposition political parties, a squeeze on freedom of speech, a ban on indigenous language media stations, a skull-cracking police force, and so on. After decades of protests, agitation and legal action, and finally a general election that pushed out the last all-powerful president, the human rights situation improved greatly. There are still many cases of human right violations, especially extra-judicial killings by the police. Also, politics is still a blood sport. A lot of people get hurt during and just after elections. State organs have been known to be used to harass, intimidate and humiliate political opponents. There is a large network of civil society groups, many of which are concerned with human rights, democracy, and good governance. These include The Kenya Human Rights Commission and Amnesty International Kenya. There are also individual activists, some of whom have made quite name for themselves as defenders of freedom, civil rights, and/or justice. Many of these have faced the wrath of powerful forces within government. A good example is Okiya Omtatah, who is currently the senator for Busia County. In a lifetime of activism, Okiya has faced all manner of physical and verbal abuse. He has been arrested, stoned, bludgeoned with metal bars, had his office raided and house invaded. Threats and intimidations are not alien to activists that rub powerful forces the wrong way. But, to reiterate, Kenya is much better off than most countries in the Global South,

Have you ever won any local, regional or international awards?
Yes, I have received various awards and honours over my now twenty-year career. The highlights include:

• 2007 - Theatre Company Playwriting Prize (Co-Winner)

• 2014 - Commonwealth Poetry Postcards (Kenyan Representative)

• 2017 - Business Daily “Top 40 Under 40 Kenya Men” (Co-Winner)

• 2022 - Share Africa Climate Fiction Awards (3rd Place)

• 2023 - Sahitto International Prizes for Literature Jury Award

• 2023 - SEVHAGE-Agema Founders’ Prize for African Criticism

Alexander Nderitu is a Kenyan-born poet, novelist, playwright, and critic. He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheAfricanGriot.com. His first book, When the Whirlwind Passes, was Africa’s first digital novel. He has since published fourteen more books, including The Moon Is Made of Green Cheese; Kiss, Commander, Promise; Disco Matanga, and King Bure Is Dead!
Nderitu’s stage plays include Hannah and the Angel, The Talking of Trees, Yuppies!, What’s Wrong With This Picture?, and The Stacy Walker Interview. In 2007, Nderitu won a Theatre Company prize for his comedy Hannah and the Angel. In 2019, the script for Hannah and the Angel was a finalist in the ASSITEJ SA Playwriting Contest. In 2021, his short play Freedom Corner took 2nd place in the IHRAF African Human Rights Playwriting contest.
Nderitu has published numerous papers on African literature and theatre. He is ranked amongst the 3% most read contributors on Academia.edu. He is currently the African Editor of The Asian Review and a Regional Managing Editor for TheTheatreTimes.com