Saturday, September 18, 2010

The one where I dwell on Kwani?...

Indulge me for a second (or two) peeps...let's talk about reading in Kenya. I won't get all huffy about it. Promise.

I was looking at Friday's paper and they were talking about how
Kwani? wako down...that somewhere along that road of serving up samplings from the Kenyan world of literature, they got it wrong...

First, a quick side note: I admit, I'm no big fan of the Kwani? books. They have the feel of a high school set book. You know; those Lit class books you trudged through 'cause your English grade depended on it. And with the exception of The Government Inspector, there is no set book I'd touch just for the fun of it...Maybe Kwani? have a different sort of reader in mind? I don't know...

What majorly bugged me about the gloom & doom article was the way it went on and on about Kwani?'s shortcomings yet offered no insights on how to make reading for fun a cool thing in a country that is hardly (and sometimes looks down on) reading for leisure.

Let's start with the said paper; their Friday entertainment section has Tv shows, movie, music reviews and even a blog review (i never quite get). There is no book review. Go to their Sunday book review section for kids, and the reviews sound like they were just copy-pasted off book blurbs...Note, there is no YA book review for the teen reader. And yes, contrary to popular belief, there are Kenyan teen readers (for research help, ask books first for their notes. They've done their homework quite nicely).

You know what would have been really cool? If the said paper (which belongs to a pretty resourceful media house) would have teamed up with Kwani? and kicked off a fab nation-wide reading campaign...or a traveling book festival...

Maybe even help set up more libraries or support existing ones...

Hell, get parents and teachers to take initiative and encourage reading. I remember during my primary school days (once upon a time), our English and Kiswahili teachers set aside a weekly double lesson for reading. Sometimes it was a quiet solo reading session in the library, sometimes the teacher picked a book and made us read it out loud in turns (quite a hair raising affair), discussing its themes as we went along. Bear in mind, this was in small town schools and all were public schools with one exception. We were not tested on it. They were just sessions dedicated to exploring the world of literature. Period. I now salute these teachers...

In a nutshell, make books accessible to as many people (especially children) as possible. THEN write about it.

And you know what would be super cool? Serving Kenyans a kick ass book buffet.
From the classics, the deliciously serious (even tragic) to the fun...throw in African, Arabian, Asian, Aussie, Carribbean, British & American tales and histories...give us all sorts of genres and garnish it with quick reads and books for the reluctant reader...we want to enter a library or a bookstore and feel like a kid let loose in a candy store
.

And please don't be timid or obsessively rigid in your servings. As kids, Abunwasi, Anansi the spider and the Hare stories wowed us just as much as 1001 Arabian Nights and Enid Blyton's tales of the Faraway tree & Wishing chair. The Moses (Kibaya) series and pacesetters were on the same shelves as Famous Five, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Secret Seven and we went through them all with zeal. As for Akokhan,...well, it's as bad ass as the Marvel & DC comics. We didn't care who the authors were, what prizes they won; we just loooved a good story, so much so, swapping books & comics became a ritual of sorts in the face of the game boy rage...


I don't know if all of my former classmates are still avid readers. I'm sure quite a number are not, and that's OK (although i wish they were)...But i do strongly believe, that we owe the younger generation a right; a right for them to discover and explore the world of books. If they grow up and say reading for fun is not their thing, then so be it. But never let them say they never knew or experienced the oh so magical world of books. We owe them that much.

Why?

Because books teleport us into a realm where you get to peek into other worlds, cultures, religions, other people's experiences, hopes, fears, wishes and dreams. And if you're lucky, you may even get to battle a troll or vamp and still be back home in time for supper. Books can help fight ignorance and hate, teach us about love, friendship and the power of believing in ourselves...soothe despair just a smidge and bring comic relief. They nurture the imagination which in turn lends substance, color and oomph to dreams and ideas...and we do know how these shape and transform the world we live in don't we?...

Perhaps reading campaigns and funding public libraries may not be the most commercially viable projects but it is the right thing to do. And sometimes, that's all the reason we need.



Mob wendos,



Nyambura