Binyavanga Wainaina
| Binyavanga Wainaina | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1971 Nakuru, Kenya |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer |
| Nationality | Kenyan |
| Alma mater |
University of Transkei University of East Anglia |
| Genre | Author, journalist |
| Notable awards | 2002 Caine Prize |
Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina (born 18 January 1971) is a Kenyan author, journalist and winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. In April 2014, Time magazine included Wainaina in its annual TIME 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World."
Binyavanga Wainaina was born in Nakuru in Rift Valley province. He attended Moi Primary School in Nakuru, Mangu High School in Thika, and Lenana School in Nairobi. He later studied commerce at the University of Transkei in South Africa. He completed an MPhil in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in 2010.
His debut book, a memoir entitled One Day I Will Write About This Place, was published in 2011. In January 2014, in response to a wave of anti-gay laws passed in Africa, Wainaina publicly announced that he was gay, first writing a short story that he described as a "lost chapter" of his 2011 memoir entitled "I am a Homosexual, Mum", and then tweeting, "I am, for anybody confused or in doubt, a homosexual. Gay, and quite happy."
Following his education, Wainaina worked in Cape Town for some years as a freelance food and travel writer.
In July 2002 he won the Caine Prize for his short story "Discovering Home". He is the founding editor of Kwani?, the first literary magazine in East Africa since Transition Magazine. Since its founding, Kwani? has since become an important source of new writing from Africa; several writers for the magazine have been nominated for the Caine Prize and have subsequently won it.
Wainaina's satirical essay "How to Write About Africa" attracted wide attention. In 2003, he was given an award by the Kenya Publisher's Association, in recognition of his services to Kenyan literature. He has written for The EastAfrican, National Geographic, The Sunday Times (South Africa), Granta, the New York Times, Chimurenga magazine and The Guardian (UK).
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