Literature & Ideas
Landmark
Binyavanga Wainaina
1971 – 2019
Won the Caine Prize, then founded Kwani? with it
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Kenya Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
He won the Caine Prize in 2002 and spent the winnings starting a magazine for Kenyan writers who had nowhere to publish. Half a generation of East African writing came out of it.
Binyavanga Wainaina won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2002 for Discovering Home, and used the win to found Kwani?, a literary magazine publishing new Kenyan writers.
Kwani? became the platform for a generation of East African writing — Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor's Caine Prize-winning story appeared in it the following year. His essay How to Write About Africa is among the most widely read pieces of African criticism written this century. He died in 2019.
Kwani? became the platform for a generation of East African writing — Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor's Caine Prize-winning story appeared in it the following year. His essay How to Write About Africa is among the most widely read pieces of African criticism written this century. He died in 2019.
- Daily Nation — Crowning moment as Kenyan author takes home Caine Prize
- Wikipedia — Binyavanga Wainaina
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