Make September the culture month

September may have been a tragic month for Kenyans in general but it was a season of harvest for the world of arts, literature and culture.

Yes, death robbed us of the Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor; death took from us tens of Kenyans and foreigners in the Westgate Mall tragedy; but September has always been a month of literary and cultural harvest and so it was this year too.
Awonoor was in town as a guest at the Storymoja Hay literary festival. This event is now a fixture on the Kenyan literary and culture calendar.

The Nairobi International Book Fair, which happens in September, is probably the most enduring literary event in the country, if not in the region.

This year, a conference, East Africa at 50, focusing on past Histories and imagined Futures was held at the University of Nairobi, last month. The conference brought together scholars of literature, language, arts, culture and related fields.

To cap the month were two literary awards: the Burt Award for African Writing and the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature. The former rewards writers of fiction for young people.

The latter is a general award for literature written for children, the youth and adults, in both Kiswahili and English.

And so, death may have stalked us but as Kenyans are wont to say, our perseverance triumphed over it. For those of us who live in the world of literature, we cried for the lost lives but we also consoled ourselves and celebrated Kenyan poetry, drama and prose.

SEASON OF HARVEST

I call this month the season of harvest because I have always entertained the dream that government policy makers in the ministries dealing with Education, Tourism and Culture would consider making the month of September the Kenyan Culture Month.

Why? Simply because there isn’t a single regular cultural event in Nairobi during the entire year in which the government and the private sector have invested.

We don’t have an annual smashing music extravaganza; no theatre competition or bonanza except the schools drama festival; no proper international film festival given that the Kenya International Film Festival compares so poorly with other international film festivals; no art exhibition worth talking about; nothing artistic or cultural really that would make someone who is bored somewhere in Madrid, New York, Accra, Bogota, Mumbai or Juba book a ticket and land in Nairobi for five days of indulgence!

So, since the Nairobi International Book Fair comes around every year, and Storymoja Hay Festival is now a regular event, why can’t we have other institutions involved in the production of art, music, literature, film etc think about baptising September Kenya’s culture month?

Imagine a marathon of festivals that includes shows on literature, film, theatre, music, dance, and cultural shows from the 47 counties, all happening in Nairobi, in September. Wouldn’t this be the best way to sell Nairobi as the culture hub of East Africa?

I think that Nairobians, or let’s just say Kenyans in general, have a tendency to underestimate what culture means, what it can do and what it does to people’s lives.

Culture used to be defined as a people’s way of life some years ago when I was in school.

I guess it really still is. So, despite our pretensions to being Westernised etc., we shall do anything to go to Gusii, Luhya, Luo, Kikuyu, Giriama night etc at The Carnivore. In fact The Carnivore now defines Kenyans, culturally.

What I wish to emphasise is that there is thirst, no, hunger, for cultural products in Nairobi. Kenyans want to see, encounter, feel, buy, admire, and be with something beyond the “Maasai” market, something more than “Muugithi”. Kenyans want to be part of and produce more of their culture and share it with everyone else. September would be an apt time for this.

Story by TOM ODHIMABO

Tom Odhiambo teaches literature at the University of Nairobi. [email protected]