Kingwa is a creative writer, journalist, scholar and poet based in Kenya. She believes in the power of words and expression to bring down the barriers of middle class insensibilities and phoniness, to break out of boxed conformity and for groups to collectively reach to a higher calling. Currently she is thinking about how literature can be used to bring revolutions in Africa where new ways of thinking are sorely needed.

In 2007 she won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature (Youth fiction category) for her book To Grasp at a Star which was also second runners up for the 2006 Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize and first runners up in the 2003 National Book Development Council of Kenya Literary Award. She has also published a short story 'The Cost' in the 2008 Caine Prize anthology The Jambula Tree and others online such as on storymoja. She has read and performed her poetry at Kwani Open Mic, Makerere university, University of Nairobi, AMKA and Utenzi among other places.

Her road to writing has been smooth and without fuss, she discovered early in life that there she would rather do nothing but write. And think. And help create revolutions. She has written numerous short stories and poems and performed them in Kenya and Uganda. She is currently completing a novel which she has been lucky to do as her M.A project. She is deputy secretary general of International PEN- Kenya Chapter and a board member of Wajibu social journal. She has written short stories, literary reviews and feature articles for The Standard, The People, and The Nation newspapers as well as African Women and Child Feature Sevices, Expression Today (ET) and Storymoja Africa. Her work is also featured in upcoming publications of Sable Lit mag (UK) and FEMRITE (Uganda). She was a writer in residence in the 2008 Femrite Regional Women Writers Residence in Uganda and a participant of the 2008 Caine Prize writers workshop in South Africa. She is a nominee of the Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford university where she will be going to pursue an MSc.in African Studies from October 2009. She is currently completing an M.A in Literature from the University of Nairobi.

20 July 2009

Call for Poetry Submissions by Komma literary magazine

(Forwarded from Storymoja)

Kenyan poetry goes North?

The literature magazine Komma is based in Lulea, on the northern coast of Sweden and not far away from the Arctic Circle. Komma publishes newly written poems and prose. Among those who contribute the readers will find both established writers and those who are in progress. It also happens that Komma reviews foreign poetry. We have done so, at least one issue per year.

Now we would like to put Kenyan poetry in focus and present some poems for our Swedish readers. I hope therefore that you are willing to send us poems to contribute in this issue, which will be published in March 2010.

Please note that all poems must be written in English and be sent to:

Komma

c/o Rask

Stationsgatan 62 C

972 34 Lulea

Sweden

or:

komma@bredband.net

Submission Deadline: 1st of November 2009.

Contributers will receive two copies of Komma.


Yours sincerely,


Peo Rask

Chief Editor of Komma

Posted by Kingwa Kamencu 0 comments

28 June 2009

The Guitar by Kingwa Kamencu

“Anita will you quit going on and on with that thing, you’re driving us crazy down here,” Anita’s mother yelled from downstairs. “It’s not ‘going on and on’ mum, I’m just practicing on my guitar,” Anita shot back. “Well stop it, its driving us nuts with all that noise you’re making. Give it a rest and read a book or something.” “And don’t talk back to mum,” her elder brother Mugo joined in. Anita rolled her eyes in exasperation. Honestly! She never had any peace at home... Full Story



Posted by StoryTime 0 comments

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)