STORYMOJA

Okay, the heat has been getting to me. Heat? I know, if you are reading from Nairobi, you are thinking, what in the world? It’s been cold and wet and the traffic jams and the KPLC project to turn the country into an early Christmas tree has not been helping things. Now you see it, [...]

I asked around. The reasons Kenyan writers shy away from romance stories: Romance stories explore emotions. We are African; apparently someone decided that as Africans talking about emotions is a big no-no. *scratches head*

“What a strange thing! to be alive beneath cherry blossoms.” ? Kobayashi Issa

Haiku is a poetic form and a type of poetry from the Japanese culture. Haiku combines form, content, and language in a meaningful, yet compact form.

Creative gifts are not the kind you can turn off when it’s inconvenient. They are not a part of you. They are you. Once you are born a painter or a writer or a musician, it reflects in everything you do. You feel more; words have special kin with you when you are a writer, so their weight bears harder on you.

9 million people; 9 million stories. 9 million stories about life, work, relationships, challenges, successes, human nature; love, hate, jealousy, friendship, corruption, justice… set against the backdrop of an urban landscape.

So here goes for Urban Fiction:

1. The Principal’s Tragedy by Chrispus Kimaru
2. Murder She Wrought by Linda Musita
3. In the Beginning by Nyambura Kiarie

Our stories tell of our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions to freedom, prosperity, even a little happiness. If we cannot begin to imagine it, then it can never become a reality. And the dream is, I am looking for a good story with some hints of romance, but with the spirit of East Africa: strong, deep, resilient. See the excerpt…

I’ve always loved words, loved to write, spin words on their axis and see where they orbit, and then watch in wonder. I aspire to use words to tell stories, my stories, the story of humanity, of life and hope, and joy, and on the farthest swing of the pendulum; the end of the cycle of life, despair, hurt, sadness, and in between everything else that makes us who we are.

“And it occurred to me that there is no such thing as blogging. There is no such thing as a blogger. Blogging is just writing — writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology.” (Simon Dumenco)

In addition to this contest, I would like to thank one of you for visiting and commenting on our blogs, so if you have ever commented here, please send me your name, and the title of at least one article you commented on, I will throw your name into the Thank You Draw, and you may be the very happy winner of a Season Pass. – See details inside

People want realism with their fiction; honesty about the darkness in us, hard truth about the universe.

See also the Urban Fiction Writing Contest Entries!