Binyavanga Wainaina

  • Notable NYC: 4/29–5/5

    Saturday 4/29: Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day! Celebrations are happening at Greenlight Bookstore, Community Bookstore, Astoria Bookshop, and BookCulture. Queens Literary Festival. LIC Landing, 2 p.m., free. Juliet Escoria, Precious Okoyomon, David Eye, and Cecilia Pavon with Jacob Steinberg read poetry.…

  • Acclaimed African Author Comes Out as Gay

    Supporters of African LGBT rights were so relieved about Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni’s veto of an anti-gay bill that they were nearly blindsided when Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan’s signed a similar bill into law. The law prompted Binyavanga Wainaina, a…

  • The View from a “Cramped Little Cottage” in Nairobi

    “I love the tingling pullover of night sounds and forest sounds and the bite of cold breeze and distant cars and stereos. Sometimes I close my eyes and sway my arms into patterns to move with the sensations of the…

  • Crows and Taxis: Writing to the South Sudan

    Crows circle, straight out of a novel by Kenya’s Nobel-nominee Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Only, the crows are circling the hotel pool, not the bush.