hello world
on my way to kenya
plan to keep a running commentary
if i can find an internet cafe like i did
last time
im too tickled
had a wonderful time last time
mostly cause i met this kwani crew
its like they got a harlem renaissance thing happening
nairobi style
ive attached the schedule
kwani has a much higher profile this year
gon be interesting
always trying when about to go through an experience to
gain the most out of it - at all times in a what is most significant about this moment
mode - alert to moments of fa
looking forward to it
and im very conscious of representing
african american to the bone
gon do my act
it went over well last time - mostly,
oral tradition and all
so often folk from the continent dont think we can throw down
think we lost our licks
so i enjoy representing, bells on the ankles and my longtailed rattle
and all, doing an afroamerican hoodoo thing
my ritual performancework being acknowledged as the real thing
on the continent mean a lot to me
last time i didnt have my instruments
this time im taking it all the way home
thats why i been working on my signature piece
gon initiate that bad boy on the continent
got to represent and leave that good impression
cause im very proud of being african american
and i want folk of the world to think well of us
folk around the world like to sneer at us cause when
they think afroamerican they think MTV and BET
but thats alright cause when i was coming up being afroamerican meant
something else - our struggle was the model for struggles around the world
thats what im representing when im in the world
im looking im listening im learning
im growing in struggle
do a little good here and there all the better
solidarity means more to us than it does to blacks of the world
that grew up in black countries
where the very being of blackness is not challenged and defined every day
we grew up under the gun and solidarity is one of our greatest values
when im somewhere and i see another black person and i give them that
little you and me nod and they dont respond it hurts my feelings
i expect that acknowledgement to the point where it totally throws me off
when i dont get it
i get to kenya and its like when i went to jamaica recently
im just overwhelmed with the blackness
naive or not, for better or worse
my attitude is damn, look at all this solidarity
im outta here
keep you up as i can
in struggle
rdoc
awaken the sleeper
protect the weak
guide the strong
-----------------------------------------------
Wednesday, Dec 14th
Noon – 2pm
Registration/meet and
greet.
2 – 4pm
Official opening of program.
Remarks from Binyavanga Wainaina,
Mikhail Iossel and Thomas Burke.
Lecture by Marjorie
Oludhe-McGoye
6 pm Welcome Cocktail
Thursday, December
15th
10am – 12noon
Craft-based
Lectures
New Journalism and Investigative
Journalism
Nonfiction within a context - an
introduction to the nonfiction process
Parselelo
Kantai
Fiction
Fundamentals of good fiction
writing Thomas
Burke
Advanced Fiction Writing
Advanced Perspectives on the
craft Arthur Flowers &
Mikhail
Iossel
2 – 4 pm
Roundtable presentation followed by
group discussion The Business of Writing in
Kenya
Stanley
Gazemba, Binyavanga Wainaina, Fiona
MCrae, Mike Vasquez and Mikhail Iossel
Friday, December 16th
10am – 12noon
Craft-based
Lectures
New Journalism and Investigative
Journalism
Translating Kenya
Fiction
Crafting the short story Doreen Baingana
Advanced Fiction Writing
The editor’s perspective - what kind
of work excites us? Fiona McCrae &
Mike
Vasquez
2 – 4 pm
Lecture:
“Soundtracks: The Meeting Of Music And
Creative Writing” Dr Joyce Nyairo
Roundtable presentation followed by
group discussion Spoken word: Where Literature
meets Music
Arthur Flowers, Oneko Arina, and
Kama of Kalamashaka.
Saturday, December
17th
11 am –
6pm
All day event: excursion to Paa ya
Paa artist colony in the outskirts of Nairobi
Sunday, December
18th
Free day.
Monday, December
19th
10am – 12noon
Craft-based
lectures
New Journalism and Investigative
Journalism
Building a viable career as a nonfiction writer Parselelo Kantai
Fiction
An editor’s perspective - what do
editor’s look for? Mike
Vazquez
Fiona
McCrae
Advanced Fiction
Writing
The editing process and
experimentation with form and style Binyavanga Wainaina
Thomas Burke
2 – 4 pm
Lecture: The Matatu Culture Dr.
Roundtable presentation followed by
group discussion Writing within a Context: The Kenyan Conversation
Binyavanga Wainaina, Tony Mochama
and Stanley
Tuesday, December
20th
10am – 12noon
Roundtable presentation followed by
group discussion Opportunities and challenges of
getting published in the US
Arthur Flowers, Doreen Baingana,
Mikhail Iossel, Thomas Burke, Mike Vazquez, Fiona
McCrae
Noon: Closure, SLS-Kenya
2005
Remarks by Mikhail
Iossel
Invitation to participate in SLS-St
Petersburg 2006.
7pm
Kwani Reading with Arthur Flowers
Carnivore’s Simba
Saloon
Wednesday, December
21st Transition to Lamu/safaris begin.
Wednesday, December 21st
– Saturday, December 24th Meet on Lamu Island
Independent writing time, with nightly group dinners at one of several oceanfront restaurants.
Saturday, December
24th
Evening: Christmas Eve party on
Manda
Beach
.
Sunday, December 25th
Morning: group breakfast and writing time.
Optional group trips to
Lamu
Museum
,
Swahili
House
Museum
, and Donkey Sanctuary.
Afternoon:
Dhow ride with stop at Manda beach for swimming.
Evening: sunset participant reading and workshop on Yumbe House rooftop area; group dinner to follow.
Nighttime: Christmas party on Manda beach.
Monday, December 26th
Morning: group breakfast and writing time
Afternoon: walk to Shella beach for lunch and swimming; take dhow home.
Evening: sunset participant reading and workshop on Yumbe House rooftop area; group dinner to follow.
Tuesday, December 27th
Morning: group breakfast and writing time
Afternoon: TBA
Evening: Farewell group dinner at Hapa Hapa.
Wednesday, December 28th
Lamu to
Nairobi
.
Program finished.
Students:
Private Schools & Universities KSh 3,500
Public Universities Literature Students KSh 1,300 (Subsidised by Kwani Trust)
Contact Jacqueline
Achwoka at the Kwani Trust office or on 0733298689 for more details on
SLS.
Suite 1S, 1st Floor P.
O. Box 2895 Tel : +254 20 4451383 / 4450490 Email : [email protected] kwani?
Madonna House( opp Soin
Arcade)
Westlands
Road
Westlands
Nairobi
______________________________
Nairobi 00100
KENYA
______________________________
Cell : +254 733 526358
Cell : +254 721 934807
______________________________
URL
: http://www.kwani.org
MSN : [email protected]
______________________________
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