Playwright and linguistics professor, Kithaka Wa Mberia, autographs books during the staging of his play 'Kifo Kisimani' performed by Hive of The Arts theatre company at CU Shah Jain Bhavan auditorium in Loresho, Nairobi on August 2 and 3, 2025.
In the past some literary critics would argue that the poet’s job is to write in such a way that the reader would see the beauty of or in the world. They would suggest that it is not the poet’s job to critique the world or record its history; if events in history appeared in a poem, it was merely for illustrative purposes and not necessarily evidence of the poet’s convictions about politics, economics, spirituality etc.
But is it possible for a writer not to be bothered by what happens around her? Can a poem or a story really be read as completely free from the speaker’s or writer’s thoughts and feelings, and not affected by the time and place the speaker or writer inhabited when they created? Can one write merely to record without hinting to the reader how to ‘read, see, understand and interpret’ what has been recorded?
A writer’s sensibilities tend to ‘sneak’ into their writing, even if the writer were to claim not to have intentionally written to reveal their feelings or thoughts. However, some writers leave no doubt in the reader’s mind about what they feel and ‘mean’ in their writing.
Kithaka wa Mberia is such a writer. In an age when reality is so elusive; when facts can be manipulated to produce counterfacts with the intention to demonstrate that what was factual may not be so, how do writers keep their audiences’ attention and interest? Kithaka wa Mberia often chooses to write ‘realistically.’ His writing tends to be an invitation to the reader to walk alongside him, see together what he has witnessed and feel with him what his senses pick from the environment. In some senses, Kithaka’s poetry reads as if it is all meant to be performed; to be co-created.
Plays and collections of poems
Kithaka wa Mberia published six books in 2025 — three plays and three collections of poetry. These are Jeneza kutoka Saurabia; Karibu, Mfalme Mpendwa; Rangi Ughaibuni; Asubuhi na Baadaya; Rafiki wa Jiji; and Mbuyu Ng’ambo ya Thagana. All these plays and poems add to a rich collection of previous publications that make Kithaka easily the most prolific author of plays and collections of poems in Kenya today. These verses and plays also continue Kithaka’s style of writing as a record of what people experience daily, especially in Kenya.
The three collections of poetry record what Kithaka has dreamt, lived, seen, felt, imagined, experienced; what history has served Kenyans from the colonial times to date; what Kenya is today and could be in future; and general human experience.
Some of the books that playwright and linguistics professor Kithaka wa Mberia published in 2025.
For instance, Rangi Ughaibuni is Kithaka narrating his experiences as a Kenyan/African, a black man, during his travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Kithaka describes and praises all the places that he has visited in his many travels as a teacher or tourist. In this collection the poet is the author. The poet’s surprises at the beauty of some parts of the world that he has visited; horror at the ease of racial prejudices in some parts of the world; the fear of the unknown, such as in places where people don’t necessarily speak to each other or strangers; all these experiences raise a fundamental question to the poet/persona: how can we understand humanity? In other words, why is an animal species that has developed incredible capacity for socialization capable of being so welcoming and sociable but also so asocial?
The theme of the complexity of the human race runs through the anthology, Karibu, Mfalme Mpendwa. The title comes from a poem in the collection which mocks the reception and celebration of the visit by King Charles to Kenya in October/November 2023. The poet appears stupefied that Kenyans were ‘proud’ that this trip was King Charles’ first visit to an African member of the Commonwealth, the collection of former colonies of Britain.
Intricacies of human life
How, the persona seems to wonder, could Kenyans who were brutalised, had their lands appropriated/stolen, had their sons and daughters killed with some of them being beheaded and their heads sent abroad, not ask the King to explain that colonial violence? How has Kenya never demanded reparations for the colonial era crimes and land theft?
Well, in some senses, the poet appears to suggest that nothing much has changed from the colonial era to date. Kenyans still worship politicians and their rulers, despite false promises, theft of public resources, lack of socioeconomic progress and even violence. It appears like the ‘love’ for their former rulers — yes, we speak the Queen’s English best among the formerly colonised Africans, so Kenyans say — by Kenyans erases the history of anticolonial struggles. It is not surprising, therefore, that since some Kenyans are ready to ignore the lessons of the history of colonial occupation, the same Kenyans wouldn’t mind being (mis)ruled by ‘one of their own’ however unqualified or incompetent.
As poet shows in a number of poems in the collection, Karibu, Mfalme Mpendwa, the king doesn’t have to be somewhere overseas. The king is the local elected leader, who buys their constituents cabbages instead of providing tractors to till the land, seeds for planting and fertilizers. The local kings drive in air-conditioned SUVs while the voters are left to endure the dust and sun as they walk to rallies to be fed more lies about development and a good life in future. The poor subjects, on the other hand, wallow in their poverty, repeatedly voting into office their leaders in the hope that one day they will be rescued from their poverty. Kithaka reminds the reader in several poems that local leaders are in office to benefit themselves and not the public.
In the three collections of poems, Kithaka writes on countless subjects, from growing up in Tharaka, going to school, who inspired him to dream of studying all the way to the university; love; political chicanery; economic plunder; political violence; the tragedy of the Gen Z - the country needs to listen to their stories instead of condemning them; writing and publishing - any writer worth the title should write and publish instead of ‘planning’ to do so without any product etc. These anthologies are celebrations of the intricacies of human life - its promises, its betrayals; its pleasures; the difficulties of unraveling its mysteries; but most important, the human ability to live every day surrounded by the mysteries of life.
The writer teaches at the University of Nairobi. [email protected]
