Author David Maillu displays his latest novel, "Push GEN Z Push Harder: Storm of Political Revolution" in Nairobi on September 13, 2024. The book was launched on September 28, 2024.
Just like in many of his previous works, Dr Maillu’s latest book is laced with explicit sexual content and strong political undertones often presented in commentaries and poems.
To advance the central narrative, the novel uses a collection of poems, songs, cartoons, memes and assorted photographs capturing the drama that characterised the youth-led anti-government protests.
As the anti-government protests led by Generation Zoomers (Gen Z) raged in June and July, African literary icon David Maillu saw an opportunity to tell a story on Kenya’s liberation struggle. It is an idea which had been in gestation for months following its conception a year ago during the anti-government protests organised by opposition leader Raila Odinga against the high cost of living. The outcome is his latest novel Push GEN Z Push Harder: Storm of Political Revolution, in which he seeks to keep the anti-government protests fire burning.
Through a spellbinding story of Matanga Karanja, a fictional character who is pressured by peers and his girlfriend Cheruto to get a job, the 126-page novel, published by African Comb Books, attempts to contextualise the youth-led protests which rocked President William Ruto’s administration in June and July by linking it to a set of unattended issues such as joblessness that have troubled the country since independence.
