Walibora: I strive to depict the real world in my books

Ken Walibora is a creative writer, a speaker, a media personality, cultural and literary scholar popularly known for his debut novel, Siku Njema. He holds a PhD in Comparative Cultural Studies from Ohio State University in the USA. He served as an assistant professor in African Languages at the University of Wisconsin in Madison — USA before taking up the position of Kiswahili quality manager at Nation Media Group until January 2017. He spoke to writer OUMAH OTIENOH about the place of Kiswahili scholarship and writing.

Oumah Otienoh: You wrote your maiden novel, Siku Njema, as a novice in the field of writing. How did you manage to pen such a bestseller when you were barely in your 30s?

Writing Siku Njema was a labour of love, just like my other subsequent works. Of course, my first formidable foe was that no one knew me. I was acutely aware of the fact that people, particularly editors at publishing houses, would ask: “Ken Walibora who?”  This motivated me to ransack the closets of my imaginative and linguistic ability in order to pen a novel that would stand the test of time. 

I intended for my first novel not only to be irresistible to the fastidious editors, who did not know me, but also to create a story that would have no sale-by date. I benefited from the remarks of unnamed readers that the publishers commissioned to read my raw manuscript. There were also elements of style for which I am hugely indebted to the then Kiswahili editor, Simon Sossion, for sending me Ezekiel Mphahlele’s guidelines on creative writing. Prof Kyallo W. Wamitila also had immense influence on the book.

You are fond of creating some ‘holier than thou’ characters such as Msanifu Kombo aka Kongowea Mswahili in Siku Njema and Amani in Kidagaa Kimemwozea. Do such fictional characters really exist?

It’s most likely that you are only referring to these two characters from the two novels studied as compulsory literary texts in the Kenyan schools out of more than 40 of my creative works. Anyway, it is not upon me to figure out whether my characters are found beyond the pages of my books. I always strive to create an alternate world populated by characters who may not be exact carbon copies of people in the real world.

Still on Kidagaa Kimemwozea, many literary pundits relate the happenings of Mwalimu Majisifu with you.

It is commonplace for readers to equate writers with their created characters, to conflate or flatten their identities. This is human in nature. Certainly, characters must bear some resemblance to the author despite them inhabiting an alternate fictional world. But they may also resemble the reader himself.

Since Shaaban Robert penned Maisha Yangu and Baada ya Miaka Hamsini in the 1960’s, very few Kiswahili (auto)biographies have been written. What made you write your memoir Nasikia Sauti ya Mama?

As I penned in the preface to Nasikia Sauti ya Mama, I would regale friends and family with exploits and adventures of my childhood. Pressure from them stirred me to chronicle those accounts. In fact, I am currently working on a number of memoirs covering various phases of my life. I believe writing more life narratives in Kiswahili would enhance and enrich the literary corpus of East Africa’s lingua franca.

In your biography, you don’t glorify your childhood like most (auto)biographies do. What advice would you give to upcoming biographers who may be tempted to whitewashing childhood?

Candor is the key to good life narratives. That is why Barack Obama’s Dreams from my Father is one of the best memoirs ever written. It reveals the warts and his restless youth, including doing drugs. But our tendency is to present one’s own life in an autobiography as if they were perfect individuals. No human is perfect.

Still in your biography, you pride yourself in your mother — Ruth Nasambu — as having greatly influenced your writing career. Can you tell us more of her impact in your writings?

I don’t wish to rehash here what has already been — to my mind — adequately articulated in Nasikia Sauti ya Mama.  Let me say my mother was the best human being I ever interacted with in this world, though she is now long dead. Nevertheless, there have been other giants in my life and they, too, are immortalised in my writings.

Few writers, like Ngugi wa Thiong’o, have succeeded in writing in all the genres of literature — the novel, short story, play and the verse. What ability do you harbour to effortlessly write in all the genres?

I think, in the Kiswahili literary world, Prof Said A. Mohamed and Prof Kyallo W. Wamitila are foremost in this regard. It’s a sure bet that interest and determination are the two guiding principles to be a master of this trade. One must consider carefully his or her motive for writing in various genres.

In a paper titled ‘Women Characters in the Novels of Ken Walibora: Victims or Winners?’ presented by Mikhail Gromov in 2015 at the University of Nairobi, you are labelled as a male-centric writer since most of your novels feature men as the main figures. Do you agree with this tag?

Gromov is a close friend and a critic who knows more about Kiswahili literature than most East Africans, Kiswahili scholars included. I respect critics and their critique of my works and I don’t publicly agree or disagree with their interpretation or even misinterpretation. I am the kind who would adopt the “mien of a god” of which Wole Soyinka was once accused, when it comes to matters literature.

Kenyans, unlike our Tanzanians, treat Kiswahili literature as an underdog compared to English works. As a Kiswahili scholar, what gains have you made in crusading for Kiswahili as a language?

I do not want this to be a platform to thump my chest or blow my own trumpet. My humble contribution towards the promotion of Kiswahili in books and newspapers, and on radio and television, both nationally and internationally, speaks for itself. I don’t know how many people know I was the founding president of Chama cha Ukuzaji Kiswahili Duniani (Chaukidu) and Global Association for the Promotion of Kiswahili. Lately, I have also engaged in mentorship programme in primary and secondary schools across the country. Schools that have invited me to talk to their students have often realised a remarkable improvement in their attitude and performance in Kiswahili.

The writer teaches at Ng’iya Girls’ High School in Siaya County and has written several high school revision books. [email protected]