PHOTO/STEPHEN MUDIARI Njeeri wa Ngugi, wife of Ngugi wa Thiong'o, during an interview in Nairobi, August 19th, 2010.
What you need to know:
LIFE AND TIMES OF LITERARY GIANT
• Ngugi wa Thiong’o was born in Kenya in 1938. • He burst onto the literary scene in East Africa with the performance of his first major play, The Black Hermit, at the National Theatre in Kampala, Uganda, in 1962, as part of the celebration of Uganda’s Independence. • In 1967, he became lecturer in English Literature at the University of Nairobi. He taught there until 1977 while also serving as fellow in creative writing at Makerere (1969-1970), and visiting associate professor of English and African Studies at Northwestern University. • He was arrested in 1977 after he wrote and published his uncensored political play Ngaahika Ndeenda ( I will marry when I want.) • In 1978, Amnesty International named him a Prisoner of Conscience after an international campaign secured his release. • After his release, he went on self-imposed exile, first in Britain (1982 –1989), and then in the Uni ted States of America. • He is currently the Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine. • In 2004, he ended his self-imposed exile but upon returning to Kenya he was attacked in his apartment, robbed and his wife raped.
For Njeeri wa Ngugi there are no grey areas in life; only black and white. This way, she says she is able to visualise things more clearly and make informed decisions.
Some of the decisions, while routine to her, would leave others thoroughly dumbfounded. A case in point is when she travelled to Kenya, from her base in the US, “to deliver a message to the people of Limuru” from her husband Ngugi wa Thiong’o, during campaigns ahead of the 2007 General Election.
