STORYMOJA

Toni Kan - Nigerian award winning writer

Toni Kan is an award winning poet, essayist and short story writer. One of Nigeria’s most anthologised young poets and short story writers. Toni Kan is the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection When a dream lingers too long and novella Ballad of Rage both of which received honourable mentions at the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and LNG Literature prize competitions in 2003 and 2004 respectively, his works have appeared in Salthill, Drum Voices, Revue, Farafina, Sentinel Poetry Quarterly and ANA Review. His short story Nights of the Creaking Bed has received critical acclaim internationally.

Nights of the Creaking Bed is full of colourful characters involved in affecting dramas: a girl who can smell scorpions and see in the dark; a middle aged housewife who finds love again but has an impossible decision to make; a young man who can’t get the image of his naked, beautiful mother out of his mind; a child so poor he has to hawk onions on Christmas day – and many others. Some, initially full of hope, find their lives blighted by the cruelty of others, or by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or by just not knowing the ‘right’ people.

These stories haunt, horrify, make you sad, make you smile: you will not remain impassive or unmoved by experiences related with such clarity. You feel Kan must have witnessed them, or lived them, first hand.

Corruption, religious intolerance, gratuitous violence, the irresponsible attitudes of some men to their offspring, and the importance of joy are some of the big themes that underlie the collection.

Toni will be at the Storymoja Hay Festival Sessions described below.

FRI 12 – 1:30pm CRIME AND PASSION IN FICTION w/ Toni Kan, Chika Unigwe, Moraa Gitaa, Onduko Bwa’Atebe and Lee Siegel, moderated by Doreen Baingana

Fiction leads us into usually unfamiliar worlds that both repel and thrill us. This conversation brings together writers who explore the dangerous side of human nature: the lives of prostitutes (Nigerian award winning writer Chika Unigwe), criminals (Kenyans up-coming writers Onduko Bwa’Atebe and Moraa Gitaa) and _________________ (Nigerian writer Tony Kan).

SAT 2 – 3:30pm: THE IMPACT OF LITERARY PRIZES – Caine Prize, Wahome Mutahi and Jomo Kenyatta Prize w/ Chris Wanjala, Monica Arac, Doreen Baingana, Parselelo Kantai, Onduko Bwa’Atebe, Stanley Kenani, Kingwa Kamencu, Muthoni Garland, Toni Kan.

Write a short story and win 15,000 dollars. Is that fair? Should one write for money? What about the alleged curse of the Nobel Prize: winners don’t write better books after that. And what happens when you don’t win? The “best” and the “almost-best” talk about the impact prizes have had on their lives and their writing (or not), and the real value of prizes.

Tickets are available from Storymoja as well as all leading book stores ( Booksfirst, Silverbird (formerly NuMetro), Savanis, Book Stop Yaya, Sarit Info Desk). Contact info@storymojaafrica.co.ke for more details about tickets. For information about the dates, venue and guests see here…