Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o on riding matatus in Kenya; on the community he misses most; on torture and imagination; on the fun of writing a book on toilet paper; on birds, bees and butterflies; on which book is next; on where he wants to retire — with TWBC

The Wandering Book Collector

Welcome to the travel/literary podcast The Wandering Book Collector with host Michelle Jana Chan. This is a series of conversations with writers exploring what's informed their books and their lives around themes of movement, memory, sense of place, borders, identity, belonging and home.In this edition, I’m joined by the writer and scholar Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o to discuss his life's works including Wrestling with the Devil, which reflects on his imprisonment back in 1978. Also, his first novel Caitaani Mũtharabainĩ, in English, Devil on the Cross, which he wrote in prison. And Weep Not, Child; The River Between; A Grain of Wheat. More recently his memoirs, Birth of a Dream Weaver and In the House of the Interpreter, and a novel in verse, The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi.

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Thank you for listening!

For more on the podcast, book recs, what books to pack for where’s next, and who’s up next, I’m across socials @michellejchan. I’d love to hear from you.And if you’ve missed any, do catch up. From Janine di Giovanni to Bernardine Evaristo to Afua Hirsch to Carla Power to Maaza Mengiste to Kapka Kassabova to Sara Wheeler to Brigid Delaney to Horatio Clare to Rebecca Mead to Preti Taneja to Kathryn D. Sullivan to Emmanuel Jal to Jennifer Steil to Winnie M Li to Mona Arshi to Tim Mackintosh-Smith to Karen Joy Fowler and Shannon Leone Fowler to Ariana Neumann to Anthony Sattin to Roger Robinson to Justin Marozzi to Frances Stonor Saunders to Osman Yousefzada to Kylie Moore-Gilbert to Doreen Cunningham.

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