Background
He was born David Dominic Mwangi in Nanyuki, and was educated at Nanyuki Secondary School, Kenyatta College and the University of Leeds.
(Arrakan is the mother of calamity and great aunt to human...)
Arrakan is the mother of calamity and great aunt to human suffering; a land that spawns wars, genocides, plagues and famines, human disasters of biblical proportions, and spews them onto the world with the wantonness of mad volcano. It is a persevering and generous land; a land that welcomes adventurers and mad men with open arms, promises bounteous treasures and boundless pleasures, but delivers, instead, a feast of unimaginable woes and unremitting cruelty. She is the visionary, the liberator, the sword of justice; sworn foe to anyone who would oppress her people. Her sole reason for living is to deliver her people from the shackles of neocolonial bondage, from the pseudo-socialist generals who have hijacked the revolution and slaughtered her dream and the aspirations of her people. He is a man of war, a merchant of death, a vile and despicable creature, or so she tells him; a selfish man who can’t believe in any cause other than his own; a man incapable of love. When they first meet, she promises to shoot him dead herself, if it becomes necessary. Everyone wants to shoot Jack Adams, for reasons that have a lot to do with the fact that he is after his own and considers everything else, especially the tragic war, an extravagant waste of time. They spare Jack, each for their own reasons, and he eventually gives everyone enough good reasons to seriously want him dead. But he is not the only one who knows the might of the gun.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9966498133/?tag=2022091-20
(KILL ME QUICK narrates the experiences of Meja and Maina,...)
KILL ME QUICK narrates the experiences of Meja and Maina, two youths who have come to the city with the hope of bettering their lives, confident that their high school diplomas will lead to success. However, they are unable to compete for jobs in the city and, ultimately, they resort to petty theft and crime, and being exploited by employers. They end up in the backstreets, where they thrive among the strays and the homeless. Brutally separated by circumstances, they turn to crime and meet years later behind bars. This young adult novel displays Mwangi's talent for writing lively stories depicting rural youth and societal problems in Kenya.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0435901435/?tag=2022091-20
(THE COCKROACH DANCE Dusman Gonzaga shares a squalid apart...)
THE COCKROACH DANCE Dusman Gonzaga shares a squalid apartment with misery and cockroaches. The old building belongs to a wealthy slumlord with a heart of stone and Dusman’s neighbours include garbage collectors, street hawkers, criminals, wise men and mad men and numerous faceless ones. Dusman attempts to organise them to boycott paying rent, in order to force the landlord to lower rents, but finds himself standing alone. Then he hatches an unscrupulous plot so devious his neighbours can’t back out of the imminent confrontation. ‘Meja Mwangi spins a fascinating tale of one man’s revolt against exploitation’. The Daily Nation
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0979647622/?tag=2022091-20
(Carcase for Hounds is a novel by Kenyan writer Meja Mwang...)
Carcase for Hounds is a novel by Kenyan writer Meja Mwangi first published in 1974. The novel concerns the Mau Mau liberation struggle during the latter days of British colonial rule and attempts, by the actions of the main protagonists, to show how Mau Mau was organized and why it took so long for the colonial government to defeat them.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0435901451/?tag=2022091-20
(Crossroads is dying. The plague has claimed the lives of ...)
Crossroads is dying. The plague has claimed the lives of nearly all the able-bodied inhabitants leaving behind orphans and helpless old people to care for one another. There seems to be no hope, until a much maligned single mother embarks on a single-handed crusade to save the community from AIDS. This novel is about a clash of wills between the old and the young, the traditional and the modern, the past and the future in a town facing the real possibility of extinction.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1491270721/?tag=2022091-20
(Set in Kenya, this portrayal of post-colonial decadence f...)
Set in Kenya, this portrayal of post-colonial decadence features the newly wealthy black landowner, Baba Pesa, who clashes with his family, friends and neighbours as he attempts to gain financial dominance of his region.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0435909797/?tag=2022091-20
(A scientist scoffs at the curse of a starving nomad woman...)
A scientist scoffs at the curse of a starving nomad woman and mysteriously loses her way in the bush only to end up at a bush hospital where she gives birth to a nightmare.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/184728468X/?tag=2022091-20
(Tyrannical landowner, Baba Pesa, owns almost all the farm...)
Tyrannical landowner, Baba Pesa, owns almost all the farmland around, yet he wants his poor neighbour's plot. Not content to be merely the wealthiest man in Laikipia, he sets out to force the man to sell and move out. But Pesa is up against not just his poor neighbour’s reluctance, but also against his own son’s machinations. Pesa’s son Juda, a University dropout and self-proclaimed market philosopher, has elected himself champion of the poor and declared war on his father’s greed. “Mwangi ... weaves a thread of humour through a fabric of tears. ... Striving for the Wind is an instructive exploration of the true nature of the human condition in rural Kenya and a fascinating appreciation of the foibles and vibrancy of the human soul.” - The Weekly Review “... a masterly, artistic representation of the reality, contradictions, aspirations and problems of a post-colonial Kenyan community in Central Kenya.” - Sunday Nation. COMMONWEALTH BOOK PRIZE
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0979647614/?tag=2022091-20
(Ben is a man on the move – in bars, in night clubs and in...)
Ben is a man on the move – in bars, in night clubs and in seedy pubs down Nairobi’s River Road, where he meets Wini, a single mother trying to make it in the big city. They live together as man and wife until Wini escapes abroad with her employer leaving him the burden of bringing up her baby son. When Ben joins up with Ocholla, his bar-crawling, construction-site friend, life goes from strange to bizarre. Mwangi’s treatment of the serious situation makes and unforgettable impact. MEJA MWANGI, the acclaimed author of “Going Down River Road”, "The Cockroach Dance" and “Kill Me Quick”, is an eclectic writer whose fascination with stories has created such varied works as “Bush Doctor”, “Crossroads”, “Carcase for Hounds”, “Rafiki” and “Christmas Without Tusker” among others.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0982012632/?tag=2022091-20
He was born David Dominic Mwangi in Nanyuki, and was educated at Nanyuki Secondary School, Kenyatta College and the University of Leeds.
Mwangi has worked in the film industry, including screenwriting, assistant directing, casting and location management. He then worked on odd-jobs for foreign broadcasters before he turned to full-time writing. He was Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa (1975-1976).
(Arrakan is the mother of calamity and great aunt to human...)
(Set in Kenya, this portrayal of post-colonial decadence f...)
(KILL ME QUICK narrates the experiences of Meja and Maina,...)
(A scientist scoffs at the curse of a starving nomad woman...)
(Ben is a man on the move – in bars, in night clubs and in...)
(Tyrannical landowner, Baba Pesa, owns almost all the farm...)
(THE COCKROACH DANCE Dusman Gonzaga shares a squalid apart...)
(Carcase for Hounds is a novel by Kenyan writer Meja Mwang...)
(A scientist scoffs at the curse of a starving nomad and g...)
(Crossroads is dying. The plague has claimed the lives of ...)