Binyavanga Wainaina

Binyavanga Wainaina (2009)

Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina (born January 18, 1971 in Nakuru , † May 21, 2019 in Nairobi ) was a Kenyan journalist and writer .

Live and act

Binyavanga Wainaina attended schools in Nakuru, Thika and Nairobi. In 1991 he went to South Africa and studied trade at Transkei University in what was then the Homeland Transkei . He then worked in Cape Town as a freelance writer, including for the Sunday Times . In 2000 he returned to Kenya. There he founded the literary magazine Kwani? ( Sheng for "So what?").

In October 2006, the Swiss Sunday newspaper published an open letter from Binyavanga Wainaina, in which he dealt polemically with statements by the Swiss Federal Councilor Christoph Blocher , who had described Africans as "lazy" among other things.

In 2006/2007 Wainaina completed a master's degree in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in Norwich , where he received a grant from Union College in Schenectady . In 2008 he was visiting professor in creative writing at Williams College , Massachusetts . In 2009 he took over the management of the Chinua Achebe Center at Bard College in Upstate New York .

In 2014, Wainaina publicized his homosexuality, and on December 1, 2016, World AIDS Day , he announced that he was HIV- positive.

After coming out , Wainaina was included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the world's most influential people in 2014.

In 2016 he was a guest in the literature section of the Berlin artist program of the German Academic Exchange Service .

Wainaina died in Nairobi in May 2019 at the age of 48 of complications from a stroke .

Awards

• 2002: Caine Prize for African Writing for the autobiographical short story Discovering Home
• In 2007, Binyavanga Wainaina declined admission to the Young Global Leaders forum of the World Economic Forum .

Works

• Beyond the River Yei . Life in the land where sleeping is a disease. With photographs by Sven Torfinn. Kwani Trust, Nairobi 2004, ISBN 9966-9836-3-5 .
• with Bill Kahora: Kwani? 4. Kwani Trust, Nairobi 2007, ISBN 978-9966-9836-6-4 .
• How to write about Africa. Kwani Trust, Nairobi 2008, ISBN 978-9966-7008-2-7 .
• One day I will write about this place. Graywolf Press, Minneapolis 2011, ISBN 978-1-55597-591-3 and Kwani Trust, Nairobi 2012, ISBN 978-9966-15-981-6 .

German: One day I will write about this place. Memories. Das Wunderhorn, Heidelberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-88423-427-3 .

Contributions

In the German-speaking area, Binyavanga Wainaina published articles in, among others, Die Zeit , the Neue Rundschau and in Kultur Austausch . Internationally, he has worked for National Geographic , Virginia Quarterly Review , The Georgia Review and the Heinrich Böll Foundation , Kenya, among others .

• Contributions in: cultural exchange. Journal for international perspectives. Edited by the Institute for Foreign Relations . ConBrio, Regensburg 2003, ISSN  0044-2976 .
  • A flexible mind. Volume 53, No. 3, 2003, pp. 81-83.
  • What are you supposed to do? Volume 56, No. 4, 2006, p. 72.
  • Latte macchiati in Nairobi. Why it sucks how everyone wants to help Africa. Volume 57, No. 2, 2007, pp. 64–65 ( online )
• Contributions in: Marion Arnold (Ed.): Art in Eastern Africa. Mkuki Na Nyota, Dar es Salaam 2008, ISBN 978-9987-449-13-2 .
  • Chapter 10: Wangechi Mutu. The extent of your citizenry. Pp. 174-180.
  • Chapter 11: Yoga. Pp. 181-184.

Web links

Commons : Binyavanga Wainaina  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Binyavanga Wainaina's title in WorldCat
• Binyavanga Wainaina on marabout.de
• Interview with Binyavanga Wainaina BBC News , 2003 (English)
• Website of the magazine Kwani? Co-founded by Binyavanga Wainaina ?

Individual evidence

1. ↑ One day I will write about this place. Kwani Trust, Nairobi 2012, ISBN 978-9966-15-981-6 , Chapter 3 ( limited preview in Google Book Search)
2. ↑ Binyavanga Wainaina, 1971–2019, RIP on johannesburgreviewofbooks.com
3. ↑ Carla Baum: Forget Harry Potter . In: The daily newspaper . January 14, 2014.
4. ↑ Africans are lazy ... and? In: Sunday newspaper . October 29, 2006 (archive version)
5. ↑ I'm a homosexual, mum on africasacountry.com, July 11, 2000, accessed July 3, 2018
6. ↑ i am HiV positive, and happy , Binyavanga Wainaina on twitter.com, December 1, 2016 accessed May 22 of 2019.
7. ↑ Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina died , deutschlandfunkkultur.de, published and accessed on May 22, 2019.
8. ↑ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie : Binyavanga Wainaina on time.com, April 23, 2014, accessed May 22, 2019.
9. ^ The new guests at the DAAD's Berlin artist program at art-in-berlin.de, July 23, 2015
10. ↑ Kenyan wins African writing prize , BBC News , July 16, 2002