He founded a literary magazine and collective called Kwani? What was his impact on the next generation? 2, he's a charismatic gentleman, and he's able to convey that - you know, he's able to tell you why this is so.ĬORNISH: Beyond his work, Wainaina was a big booster of young writers on the continent. People of African descent, Africans know that we're covered badly, so he was speaking to us, No. 1, it's because he was giving a message that a lot of us have known of for a long time. The existing narrative must be a dependent and collapsed place and then, oh, maybe there's a good news story if you're lucky.ĬORNISH: Why did this make such an impact? WAINAINA: Probably the vast majority of coverage on Africa by the West reinforces the pre-existing idea. So he really, really validated a lot of people who didn't have anyone they could look to and say, yeah, this is not unnatural for me to be this way.ĬORNISH: I want to come back to his essay, 'How To Write About Africa.' He was asked about it in an interview with Al Jazeera about what he thought was wrong with the way the West talked about the continent. So, I mean, at the time he came out, he was the most prominent African to come out as being gay. The Ugandans were working on their own legislation. The Nigerians had just criminalized being queer. I mean, the thing about the essay was it came from the background where it wasn't just in Kenya but across the continent where some really, really horrible legislation was coming out. That simple act - I think that's the most political act that one can have.ĬORNISH: How radical was the act of coming out in Kenya at that time? How important was this essay? Here's a little bit of one of those.īINYAVANGA WAINAINA: I want this generation of young parents to have their kids see Africans writing their own stories, print their own stories. And it was one of those guys who you spoke to and you left there thinking you could do anything.ĬORNISH: He came out publicly in 2014 in an essay called 'I Am A Homosexual, Mum.' And he put out a series of YouTube videos to accompany it. You actually walked into his life, like, into his world.

I was doing a magazine project, and he was doing his project for his journal, The Kwani? Project. Wainaina, right? Can you tell us about your relationship? Welcome to the program.ĬORNISH: You actually knew Mr.

He was also a vocal advocate of LGBTQ rights. Wainaina was a fierce champion of African literature. Another - among your characters, you must always include the starving African who wanders the refugee camp nearly naked and waits for the benevolence of the West. Even if you don't know the name, you might be familiar with one of his most famous works, a biting satire called 'How To Write About Africa.' One tip - treat Africa as if it were one country. Binyavanga Wainaina, the Kenyan author, has died.

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