Meja Mwangi

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Meja Mwangi (born December 27, 1948 in Nanyuki , Kenya ) is a Kenyan writer .

Along with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, he is considered the most important writer in his country. In 1992 he received the German Youth Literature Prize .

Life

Meja Mwangi attended Nanyuki Secondary School, where he also graduated from high school. He then worked as a technical employee for the French Broadcasting Corporation and the British Council in Nairobi . Then he got the book Weep Not, Child of his future mentor Ngugi wa Thiong'o to write. In 1971 he enrolled at Kenyatta College in Nairobi and began his first attempts at writing.

Mwangi is a Kikuyu . His birth town Nanyuki is located in the immediate area of ​​the great Mau Mau uprising against the British colonial power. This period particularly marked the beginning of his literary work, for example in his book Wie ein Aas für Jungs ( How a Aas for Dogs) (1974), in which he traced the life and tragic demise of Mau Mau General Haraka in the impenetrable forests of Mount Kenya . Today you can still visit some well-hidden caves near Nanyuki, in which the freedom fighters lived for years.

He has been working as a freelance writer since the great success of his first book Kill Me Quick (= ironic name of the slum dwellers for the changaá , a black- distilled and often health- endangering schnapps ) in 1973 and which was then awarded the Jomo Kenyatta Award . His literary work is broad; it includes novels translated into many languages , children's books , films and plays that deal with current social issues in his country in a very realistic way. In Nairobi, River Road, for example, he addresses the impoverishment of the rural population in the gleam of the big city lights, and in The Eighth Plage, the treatment of AIDS, which is often still taboo in Africa . Unlike his mentor Ngugi, he uses an almost American language style.

He not only wrote, but also worked on large film projects such as Out of Africa (assistant director to Sydney Pollack ), which were made in Kenya. He wrote the screenplay for the 1981 Nigerian film Cry Freedom .

Works

Published in German translation

  • Carcase for Hounds (1974; Ger. Like a carrion for dogs . Reclam, Leipzig 1985).
  • Going Down River Road (1976; German Nairobi, River Road . Unionsverlag, Zurich 1982).
  • The Bushtrackers (1979; German Die Wilderer . Unionsverlag, Zurich 2001).
  • The Cockroach Dance . 1979.
    • Dance of the cockroaches ; German by Jutta Himmelreich. Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 2015. ISBN 978-3-7795-0528-0 .
  • Weapon of Hunger (1989; German Mister Rivers last solo . Peter-Hammer-Verlag, Wuppertal 1995).
  • Little White Man (Nairobi, 1990; new title: Mzungu boy . Toronto, 2005; Ger . Kariuki and his white friend . Lamuv, Göttingen 1991).
  • Striving for the Wind (1990; German Scars of Heaven . Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 1992).
  • The Last Plague (2000; German The eighth plague . Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 1997).
  • The Boy Gift (2006; German Happy Valley . Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 2006).
  • Mama Dudu, the Insect Woman (2007; German Das Buschbaby . Peter-Hammer-Verlag, Wuppertal 2007).
  • The Big Chiefs . 2007.
  • Rafiki - Man Guitar . 2010.
  • Christmas without Tusker . 2015.
    • Waiting for tusker ; German by Jutta Himmelreich, Peter-Hammer-Verlag, Wuppertal 2017, ISBN 978-3-7795-0562-4 .

Other works

  • Kill Me Quick (1973)
  • Cockroach Dance (1979)
  • Taste of Death (1975)
  • Bread of Sorrow (1987)
  • The Return of Shaka (1989)
  • Jimi the Dog (1990)

Prices

  • Numerous international awards, especially in Great Britain
  • 1973: Jomo Kenyatta Award for Kill Me Quick
  • 1982: Honorable recognition at the Adolf Grimme Prize for his documentary film Twice Kenya (together with Hans-Josef Dreckmann )
  • 1992: German Youth Literature Prize (for Kariuki and his white friend )
  • 2001: Jomo Kenyatta Award for The Last Plague

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Mwangi, Meja
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Kenyan writer
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Nanyuki , Kenya