Author Grace Ogot dies in Nairobi

An image of Grace Ogot on the cover of her autobiography Days of My Life. The acclaimed writer died on March 18, 2015 at the Nairobi Hospital. PHOTO | PHOEBE OKALL

What you need to know:

  • The London educated nurse and once assistant minister was one of the first women MPs.
  • Odera Akang’o University College Principal Joseph Rasowo said the institution will remember the late Ogot for having contributed immensely to the education of Siaya County.

The literary fraternity is mourning the death of Grace Ogot, one of Kenya’s leading writers.

Grace, the wife of leading historian Bethwell Allan Ogot, died at Nairobi Hospital around midday after a long illness.

Best known for her novel The Promised Land and collection of short stories Land without Thunder, Ms Ogot, who would have turned 81 in May, belonged to the first generation of indigenous African writers.

The London educated nurse and once assistant minister was one of the first women MPs.

At her home in Yala, Siaya County, the usually quite home was opened to allow villagers mourn with the family.

When Nation visited the home Wednesday evening, Mr Thomas Ogol Olwande, a caretaker, said they had received information of Ms Ogot’s death from a relative in Nairobi.

“Mama had been taken for treatment to Kisumu before her transfer to a hospital in Nairobi for further treatment. She had been ailing for some time but we did not anticipate her death this soon. We are truly shocked,” he said.

MOTHER OF KENYAN LITERATURE

Scholars paid a glowing tribute to the former Gem MP.

Odera Akang’o University College Principal Joseph Rasowo said the institution will remember the late Ogot for having contributed immensely to the education of Siaya County.

"She ensured that Siaya had a university by donating six acres of land,” Prof Rasowo told Nation in a phone interview.

He said the land in which the university sits today was donated by the family of Grace Ogot. “This land is worth Sh50 million and we will forever be grateful.”

Prof Egara Kabaji, the Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Research, Extension and Innovation at Masinde Muliro University of science and Technology described Prof Ogot as the mother of Kenyan literature.

“He said that Prof Ogot was among the first writers who demonstrated to the world that good literature with African literature could emerge from Kenya,” said Prof Kabaji.

Cultural analyst Joyce Nyairo said Ms Ogot was a master of the short story filled with the texture of Luo culture. “ her writing carried all the elegance of her name, grace, and her fictional characters echoed the commitment of family and community that defined her own life.”