Meja Mwangi

Meja Mwangi
Born	David Dominic Mwangi (1948-12-27)December 27, 1948 Nanyuki, central Kenya
Nationality	Kenya
Education	Nanyuki Secondary School, Kenyatta College, University of Leeds[1]
Occupation	novelist, a film industry professional (screenwriting, assistant directing, casting, location management)
Agent	Annemarie Friedli
Known for	One of Kenya's leading novelists; author for children's books with African people and culture
Notable work	Kill Me Quick (1973), Going Down River Road (1976),[2] the Cockroach Dance (1979)[3]
Awards	Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa (1975-6). For awards for literal works, see Meja Mwangi#Prizes and awards

Meja Mwangi (born 27 December 1948)^[4] is one of Kenya's leading novelists.^[5] Mwangi has worked in the film industry, including screenwriting, assistant directing, casting and location management.

Biography

He was born David Dominic Mwangi^[4] in Nanyuki, Kenya, and was educated at Nanyuki Secondary School, de:Kenyatta College and studied at the University of Leeds for a while.^[1] He then worked on odd-jobs for French Broadcasting Corporation, a British Council in Nairobi for Visual Aids Officer,^[6] before he turned to full-time writing. He was Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa (1975-6).^[4]

Between 1975 and 1976, Meja Mwangi stayed in the United States of America as a Fellow in Writing at Iowa University writers’ workshop. Mwangi, the path to a popular writer was never obtained casually. After prolonged period in the Kenyan and African publishing scene over the years, he moved to the US after the recognition in several awards and winning reputation.^[7][8]

American publishers who was interested him as a juvenile literature novelist started to issue his works, and those publishers also put on print Mama Dudu, the Insect Woman (2007),^[9] as well as two screen plays, Power (2009), and Blood Brothers (2009) a work expanded from Mama Dudu, the Insect Woman. His best known early work is a trilogy of Kill Me Quick (1973), Going Down River Road (1976),^[2] and The Cockroach Dance (1979),^[3] illustrating the urban landscape in Kenya with struggle against poverty and epidemic of AIDS.^[10]

Prizes and awards

For general readers

• Jomo Kenyatta Prize, for Kill Me Quick (1974); Going Down River Road (1977); The Last Plague (2001)
• Lotus Prize for Literature (1978) presented by the Afro-Asian Writers' Association (aka Association of Asian and African Writers)^[11]
• Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature (Adult Fiction third place), for Big Chief (2009)

For juvenile readers

• de:Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize), for Kariuki und sein weißer Freund. Eine Erzählung aus Kenia (Little White Man (1990) title changed to Mzungu boy (1992))
• Le Prix Lire au College for Kariuki (1992)
• American Library Association (USA) Notable Children's Books Award for Older Readers, The Mzungu Boy (2006)^[12]

Shortlist

• Noma Award (Honourable mention), for Bread of Sorrow (1989)
• International Dublin Literary Award (Nomination), for The Last Plague (2002)

Literary works

Before recognized internationally as a novelist, Meja Mwangi worked as a soundman at French television ORTF,^[13] when he started writing his first novel.^[14] His literal works were issued and read by limited readers in Kenya and African nations until translation in French, German, and English began in the 1980s when he had put several novels in print already.

In English

• Kill Me Quick. Peak Library. East African Ecucational Publishers. 1973. ^[15] Adapted for the film "Cry Freedom".^[16]

• Taste of Death. Peak Library. Kenya: East African Publishing House. 1975. 
• Going Down River Road. Peak Library. Heinemann. 1976. ISBN 978-0435901769. 
• The Bushtrackers. 1979. ISBN 0-582-78525-1. 
• The Cockroach Dance. 1979. ISBN 0-582-64276-0. 
• Bread of Sorrow. 1987. 
• The Return of Shaka. 1989. 
• Weapon of Hunger. 1989. ISBN 9966-49-813-3. 
• Weapon of Hunger. Nairobi: Longman Kenya. 1989. OCLC 23747169. 
• Striving for the Wind. Peak Library. Heinemann International Literatu. 1992. ISBN 978-0435909796. 
• The Hunter's Dream. United Kingdom: Macmillan Education. 1994. ISBN 978-0333580028. 
• The Last Plague (Vitabu Vya Nyota Series, 2). Peak Library. East African Educational Publisher. 2000. ISBN 978-9966250827. ^[17]
• Mountain of Bones. 2001. 
• The Boy Gift. H M Books. 2006. ISBN 978-1-84728-471-6. 
• The Mzungu Boy. Canada: GROUNDWOOD BOOKS. 2006. ISBN 978-0888996640. 
• Mama Dudu, the Insect Woman. 2007. ISBN 978-1-84728-468-6. 
• Baba Pesa. HM Books Intl. 2007-11-13. ISBN 978-0-9796476-1-1. 
• The Big Chiefs. 2007. ISBN 978-0-9796476-3-5. 
• Gun Runner. 2007. ISBN 978-0-9796476-0-4. 
• Free?: Stories Celebrating Human Rights. Walker. 2009. ISBN 978-1406318302. 
• Rafiki - Man Guitar. HM Books Intl. 2013-01-10. 
• The Muzunu Boy. HM Books. 2014. ISBN 978-0982012673. 
• Christmas Without Tusker. HM Books. 2015. ISBN 978-0-982012680. 

Translations

• Carcaça para càès (in Spanish). Lisboa: Ediçoès 70. 1980. Retrieved 2016-10-26. 
• Wie ein Aas für Hunde [Carcase for Hounds] (in German). de:Gunter Böhnke (translator). Leipzig: Philipp Reclam. 1985. 
• Wie ein Aas für Hunde (in German). Leipzig: Philipp Reclam. 1985. 
• Narben des Himmels [Striving for the Wind] (in German). Peter Hammer Verlag. 1992. ISBN 978-3872944719. 
• Kariuki (aventures avec le petit homme blanc). 1992. ^[18]
• Mister Rivers letztes Solo [Weapon of Hunger] (in German). Peter Hammer. 1995. ISBN 978-3872946409. 
• Kariuki und sein weißer Freund (in German). 1995. ISBN 978-3889773227. 
• La Ballade des perdus (in French). Françoise Balogun (translation). Editions Dapper. 2001. ISBN 978-2906067646. Retrieved 2016-10-26. 
• Descente a River Road (in French). Mwangi, Meja (editor), Evette, Jean-Baptiste (translation). Paris: Dapper. 2002. ISBN 978-2906067813. 
• "Happy Valley" [The Boy Gift] (in German). 2006. Retrieved 2016-10-26. 
• "Das Buschbaby" (in German). from English Mama Dudu, the insect woman. Wuppertal: Hammer. Retrieved 2016-10-26. 
• "Big Chiefs" (in German). Thomas Brückner (translation). Wuppertal: Hammer. 2009. Retrieved 2016-10-26. 
• "Rafiki" (in German). Thomas Brückner (translation). Wuppertal: Hammer. 2014. Retrieved 2016-10-26. 
• "Tanz der Kakerlaken" (in German). Himmelreich, Jutta (translator) based on English "The cockroach dance". Wuppertal: Hammer. 2015. Retrieved 2016-10-26. 
• Ernesto Cardenal; Hanna Jansen; Jürg Schubiger (2015). "Die Jubiläumsanthologie" [The Anniversary Edition] (in German). Jens Soentgen et al. Retrieved 2016-10-26.  Stories of crossings. Anthology in the 50th year of the Peter Hammer publishing house with 12 contributions from authors of all areas.
• Meja Mwangi (1948-); David Almond (1951- author); Theresa Breslin (author); fr: Sarah Mussi (author) (2012). Libres!: nouvelles pour la défense des droits de l'homme [Free! news for the defense of human rights] (in French). fr:Pascale Jusforgues (translation), Patricia McCormick (author), Roddy Doyle (1958- author), Ibtisam Barakat (1964?- author), Malorie Blackman (1962- author), Margaret Mahy (1936-2012 author), Jamila Gavin (1941- author), Eoin Colfer (1965- author), Michael Morpurgo (1943- author), Amnesty international (editor). Montrouge, Paris: fr:Bayard eunesse. 
• Ich schenk Dir eine Geschichte. Geschichten aus aller Welt [I'll give you a story. Stories from all over the world] (in German). Mayer-Skumanz, Lene u.a. 
• Die Achte Plage [The Last Plague]. Mwangi, Meja, Koehler, Susanne. ISBN 978-3872947758. 
• Descente à River Road (in French). ISBN 978-2906067813. 
• Nairobi, River Road [Going Down River Road] (in German). Wuppertal: Peter Hammer Verlag. ISBN 978-3872942012. 
• Die Wilderer [The Bushtrackers] (in German). ISBN 978-3293202184. 

Screen play

• Power. 2009. ISBN 978-0-9796476-9-7. 
• Blood Brothers. 2009. ISBN 978-0-9820126-0-4. 

Filmography

• Assistant director (1985). Out of Africa. 
• Second assistant director (1987). White Mischief (film)|format= requires |url= (help). 
• Casting director. The Kitchen Toto. 
• Assistant director (1985). Gorillas in the Mist. 
• Location manager (1988). Shadow On The Sun. 

Interviews

"Interviews on Voice of America" was recorded between 1975-1979, and broadcast preservation master was archived for Library of Congress Magnetic Recording Laboratory in 1977.^{[19][note 1]} It was in 1979 when the unedited version of audio recording was copied from tapes lent by Lee Nichols, the interviewer of the program, which was archived at the Library of Congress. The transcript of broadcast version was produced around 1977.^[20] Bernth Lindfor interviewed twenty-seven writers from six African countries including Meja Mwangi. Lindfor was a prominent scholar of Africana, and he archived in his library the four magazines that published those interviews. Lindfor reprinted them, or Palaver,^[21] Dem-Say, Mazungumzo, and Kulankula.^[22][23]

Interviews

"Interviews on Voice of America" was recorded between 1975-1979, and broadcast preservation master was archived for Library of Congress Magnetic Recording Laboratory in 1977.^{[19][note 1]} It was in 1979 when the unedited version of audio recording was copied from tapes lent by Lee Nichols,^[19] archived at the Library of Congress.^[19] The transcript of broadcast version was produced.^[20]

Notes

References

See also

• fr:Fernanda Tomé da Topczewska-Metelska Maryla
• fr:Jean-Baptiste Evette (1964-)
• fr:Lucienne Silva Serain
• Michael Žantovský (1949-)
• fr:Thomas Brückner (1957-)
• Voice of America (Organization)

External links

• Official website
• Meja Mwangi at the Internet Movie Database
• ISNI-IA
• Dictionary of African Biography, via Oxford African American Studies Center database