Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan author and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English. He has been described as having been "considered East Africa’s leading novelist". His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mũtĩiri. His short story The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright, is translated into 100 languages from around the world.
James Albert Varney Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his broadly comedic role as Ernest P. Worrell, for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award, as well as appearing in films and numerous television commercial advertising campaigns. He played Jed Clampett in a film adaptation of The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) and performed the voice of Slinky Dog in the first two films of the Toy Story franchise (1995–1999). He died at age 50 of lung cancer on February 10, 2000, leaving two posthumous releases, Daddy and Them and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Ngugi wa Mirii was a Kenyan-Zimbabwean playwright, social worker and teacher, most known for his play Ngaahika Ndeenda, which he co-authored with fellow Gikuyu writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. The play depicts the injustices and excesses of post-colonial Kenya, and was staged by non-intellectuals in an open-air theatre at the Kamirithu Educational and Cultural Center in Limuru.
The culture of Kenya consists of multiple traditions and trends. Kenya has no single prominent culture that identifies it. Its cultural heritage and modern expressions of culture instead consist of various cultures, shaped and practiced by the country's different communities.
Joseph Zuzarte Murumbi was a Kenyan politician who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya from 1964 to 1966, and its second Vice-President between May and December 1966.
Job Seda, better known as Ayub Ogada, was a Kenyan singer. He was a singer favoring the nyatiti as his characteristic instrument. His music is known to have a natural feel to it, having songs of birds, the calls of animals and the sounds of children playing in the background.
Kenya National Theatre is part of the Kenya Cultural Centre, a Semi Autonomous Government Agency under the Ministry of State for National Heritage and Culture in Kenya. It is mandated to offer space for the rehearsal and staging of productions to both local and international repertoire. It is based in Nairobi along Harry Thuku Road and borders the University of Nairobi (UON), The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) and The Fairmont Norfolk Hotel.
NTV is a Kenyan general entertainment channel. The channel began operating on April 4, 2005, and is a revamp from the previous Nation TV station under the Nation Media Group arm that has been in existence since 1999.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) is the monetary authority of Kenya. Its head office is located in Nairobi. CBK was founded by in 1966 after the dissolution of East African Currency Board (EACB). Dr. Patrick Ngugi Njoroge is current Governor of CBK and Sheila M’Mbijjewe is the Deputy Governor.
Kenyan Americans are an ethnic group of Americans of Kenyan descent. As of the 2010 census, there were an estimated 92,638 Kenyan-born persons living in the United States. Most Kenyan Americans are concentrated in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Seattle, Texas, Maryland, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, and the greater Washington, D.C. area.
Petals of Blood is a novel written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and first published in 1977. Set in Kenya just after independence, the story follows four characters – Munira, Abdulla, Wanja, and Karega – whose lives are intertwined due to the Mau Mau rebellion. In order to escape city life, each retreats to the small, pastoral village of Ilmorog. As the novel progresses, the characters deal with the repercussions of the Mau Mau rebellion as well as with a new, rapidly westernizing Kenya.
BMJ Muriithi is a print, radio and television journalist and actor based in the United States. Muriithi is also a regional reporter and correspondent for NTV, a Kenyan media outlet, QTV, and the Nation Newspaper, all owned by Nation Media Group (NMG). He previously worked for The Standard of Kenya as a US correspondent.
Ngaahika Ndeenda is a controversial play that covers post-colonial themes of class struggle, poverty, gender, culture, religion, modernity vs. tradition, and marriage and family.
Sidede Onyulo (1955–2008) was a Kenyan actor, most famous for his role as Owour in Oscar-winning movie Nowhere in Africa.
John Ngugi Kamau, is a former Kenyan long-distance runner, often called one of the greatest cross country runners of all time and winner of the 5000 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics, in Seoul South Korea.
Micere Githae Mugo is a playwright, author, activist, instructor and poet from Kenya. She is a literary critic and professor of literature in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University. She was forced into exile in 1982 from Kenya during the Daniel Arap Moi dictatorship for activism and moved to teach in Zimbabwe, and later the United States. Mwalimu Mugo teaches Orature, Literature, and Creative Writing. Her publications include six books, a play co-authored with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and three monographs. She has also edited journals and the Zimbabwean school curriculum. The East African Standard listed her among the 100 most influential people in Kenya in 2002.
The High Court of Kenya is a court of unlimited original jurisdiction in criminal and civil matters established under article 165 of the constitution of Kenya. It also has supervisory jurisdiction over all other subordinate courts and any other persons, body or authority exercising a judicial or quasi-judicial function. It was known as the Supreme Court of Kenya until 1964 and its name has remain unchanged since then.
Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature, by the Kenyan novelist and post-colonial theorist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, is a collection of essays about language and its constructive role in national culture, history, and identity. The book, which advocates linguistic decolonization, is one of Ngũgĩ's best-known and most-cited non-fiction publications, helping to cement him as a preeminent voice theorizing the "language debate" in post-colonial studies.
Esther Muthoni Passaris OGW is a Kenyan politician, social entrepreneur and philanthropist. She is the Nairobi County woman representative in the bicameral Kenyan parliament, and a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Political Party.
