The country was invaded by Omani Arabs in the 17th century, who then established a slave trade with Portuguese colonialists. In the 1880s, Germany established Kenya as a protectorate (a deeply colonialist word), calling the whole country the “East Africa Protectorate,” which was transferred to the British in 1890. It was renamed Kenya in 1920; from 1952 to 1959, the Mau Mau people in Kenya fought a rebellion to release the country from British rule. On December 12, 1964, the Republic of Kenya was officially established and functions today as an independent democratic republic, although it is still considered part of the British Commonwealth. With such a deep history and so many diverse voices — both African and not — in its history, it is no surprise that Kenya’s literature is equally multifaceted and beautiful. I’ve gathered ten books about Kenya here from Kenyan authors, based on recommendations from Kenyan readers and bloggers.
The Best Books About Kenya
Like Kenya itself, the literature of the country is profoundly diverse. This list of books about Kenya is only the starting the point. Or, if you’d like to expand your reading of African authors beyond Kenya’s borders, dig into these African Fantasy Novels.
When Odidi Oganda is gunned down in the streets of Nairobi, his sister Ajany and her father must return his body to their home in the Kenyan drylands. But Odidi’s murder unravels long-held secrets, reaching back to the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s.
Mukoma is the son of the aforementioned Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and currently teaches at Cornell University.
In 1968, Kenyatta published Suffering Without Bitterness: The Founding of the Kenya Nation, the authoritative volume on his journey to Kenyan independence and the presidency. This text seems to be out of print in English, which is why it is not spotlighted here, but it would be well worth looking for to an interested student of Kenyan history.
