Chika Unigwe in Kenya - a report
Jomo Kenyatta Airport was cold. Not quite what I expected: a cold Nairobi. I wasn't prepared for that. I was dressed for summer. I shot a glance at the name cards looking for mine. Fortunately, the driver was already there. I walked towards him.
"Are you Chika or Petina?", he asked. "I'm Chika", I said. We had to wait for Petina Gappa, a writer from Zimbabwe. Apparently, we were on the same flight from London but we hadn't recognized each other. Petina had more luggage than me. She lives in Switzerland but was on her way to Zimbabwe on a family visit. Hence the luggage. Her debut (a collection of short stories) was published in March. Like me, she was there to attend the first ever Storymoja Hay Festival.
We were taken to the home of Monica Arac de Nyeko, a Ugandan writer who won the Caine Prize in 2007, for her short story, Jambula Tree. Monica is also the godmother of one of my children. In 2004 we were both on the shortlist for the Caine Prize (which was eventually won by Brian Chikwava from Zimbabwe). We had only a few hours to rest before we headed to the opening ceremony of the festival.
It was unbelievable: I was seated at a table with, amongst others, Lee Siegel, an American author whose novel was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize a couple of years ago, and at the table behind us was Vikram Seth. Indeed, thé Vikram Seth who is rumored to have received an advance of 3 million GBP (or is it USD??) for his next book. I read his previous work and Seth is simply a master. At the reception I got to read an excerpt from my novel and sign books.
Fantastic! I shaked Vikram's hand. "I can't believe I am shaking your hand, Vikram! May I hug you, please?" I was allowed to hug him. Who would have thought? To sit at Lee Siegel's table and hug Vikram Seth all in one evening! The festival could not possible go wrong from this point.
The next days, lots and lots was happening: interviews, workshops and readings. I tried to attend as many events as possible. The poetry workshop of the multi-talented son of the great Ngugi wa Thiongo, Mukoma, for instance.
One night we went dancing with Lee and some other writers. All work and no play....
The last night we were all invited for dinner at one of Storymoja's organizers: Muthoni Garland. It was almost like a dream: I sat next to an organizer of Hay London (and got invited to next year's Hay in the UK, hurray!!) and a top BBC war reporter, and in front of Hanif Kureishi. I absolutely recommend Kureishi's ‘Buddha of Suburbia', by the way.
Delicious food, healthy conversation, good wine: a great festival's perfect ending. Many thanks to the Flemish Literature Fund for allowing me to experience this.
(Sent by email on 14 August 2009)
