Who is a Book Writer?
A writer is a person who writes a piece of literature, articles, blogs, novels, or short stories not necessarily on his ideas.
A person becomes an author once their work gets published. There are no additional skills required to be another apart from having basic writing skills.
Best Book Writers In Kenya
Dolen Perkins-Valdez, 1973-
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is a New York Times bestselling author and recipient of the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. Her books include Wench:
A Novel (2010), Balm: A Novel (2015), and Take my Hand (2022). Perkins-Valdez started as a writer while earning her BA at Harvard College, then earning her Ph.D. in English at George Washington University. She was inspired to write her first novel after researching W.E.B. Dubois.
Margaret Ogola, 1958-2011
Dr. Margaret Atieno Ogola is known for her novel The River and the Source and its follow-up volume, I Swear by Apollo. The two novels follow the stories of four sequential generations of Kenyan women and provide a commentary on femininity in Africa and the ever-evolving culture of Kenya.
Ogola’s first novel received the 1995 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. In addition to her first two novels, Ogola wrote Mandate of the People before passing away in 2011.
Grace Ogot, 1930-2015
Along with author Charity Waciuma, Grace Ogot was the first female Kenyan author to be published. Throughout her life, she served the people of Kenya as a diplomat, politician, nurse, journalist, assistant minister of parliament, and author.
After completing her training as a nurse in London, Ogot returned to Kenya, where she began working as a scriptwriter and a public relations officer.
Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye, 1928-2015
Born in England, Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye became a Kenyan citizen as a young adult when she moved to the country to become a successful bookseller.
After settling in Kenya, she took a shot at writing and experienced great success with magazine-published short stories. In the 1970s, Macgoye began writing novels, including Growing Up at Lina School and Murder in Majengo.
Binyavanga Wainaina, 1971-2019
A recipient of the Caine Prize for African Writing, Binyavanga Wainaina was well known for his short story Discovering Home. Wainaina’s wit and wisdom were also heralded following his 2005 essay entitled How to Write About Africa, in which he stated,
“One must treat Africa as if it were one country… [of] 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book,” providing satirical insight on the way the Western world views African countries.