Authors can help publishers market books

Curiously, none of these people who congratulate the new author buys a copy of the new book; they all admire the gratis copies the author has received from the publisher.

By Lucas Wafula 9 years ago

Publishers do not seem to 'prioritise creative works’

Goro wa Kamau’s appearance shouts ‘beware, Professor on the prowl’ even before he speaks. Yet his easy-going manner sets you at ease. “I don’t think I have a reasonable answer why I write,” he says and busts out laughing when I ask him why he writes.

By Lucas Wafula 9 years ago

Good grammar makes stories easier to read

After a long time, I read compositions by high school students, Form Fours. Some were good while others were nothing to write home about.

By Lucas Wafula 9 years ago

Writers must prepare for Kenya’s new curriculum

Any editor will tell you that the number of unsolicited manuscripts received in publishing houses is enormous.

By Lucas Wafula 9 years ago

Fiction writing is not telling lies or being weird

In fact, some people think they can’t write fiction because they do not fall into this category. Certainly, this is not true. Some of the greatest writers are surgeons; others are engineers and so forth.

By Lucas Wafula 9 years ago

There’s a market for well written books in Africa

We are in the auditorium of Gorilla Hall, at Hilltop Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. There is a lull as a break quickly approaches. I start speaking to two participants about writing.

By Lucas Wafula 9 years ago

Dear writer, this editor can only spoil your work

Editors are not easy to work with. They always have an opinion and will state it clearly. That is not to say they are opinionated.

By Lucas Wafula 9 years ago

Focus on your writing goal to stay the course

Carey Francis is best known as a mathematician yet few of us know he is one of those who inspired Ngugi wa Thiong’o to write.

By Lucas Wafula 9 years ago

Literary critics are becoming comical

I strain nowadays to read the so-called literary criticism by self-glorified critics. Their criticism — more of personal attacks — is puzzling! They have perfected the art of slamming everyone involved in the creation of books while claiming competent knowledge of all texts.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

The arts are under threat

During the Great Debate at this year’s Nairobi International Book Fair, professor Austin Bukenya proclaimed thus: “The arts are threatened with extinction.”

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Learn how to handle what critics opine

Any writers who have been reading the Literary Discourse must be thinking they are in the wrong place. Some might be thinking about giving up writing, what with the negative energy that has been flowing all around!

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

A good non-fiction will make readers ‘see’ the message

Last week on Thursday, I was glued to the screen of my computer streaming live, the announcement of the Nobel Prize for Literature and press conference thereafter.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Creatives will benefit from new curriculum

The speed at which Nile was flowing, coupled with the launch of the competence-based curriculum, made me feel Kenyans are being overtaken by our the neighbours such as Rwanda which had launched and is now implementing its competence-based curriculum.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Encourage young writers to be the best

Last week ended on a dark note – especially for lovers of popular literature; Jackie Collins, the British-born author died of cancer. Ms Collins wrote 32 novels translated in 40 languages and sold over 500 million copies!

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

You, too, can win that coveted writing award

The National Book Development council in conjunction with the Canadian Organisation for Development through Education will on Friday recognise this year’s BURT Award winners at the Villa Rosa Kempinski.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Train authors to grow literature

September has it fair share of literary activities. First will be the Nairobi International Book Fair, which will quickly pave way for several local literary prizes that are usually awarded just after the fair.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Writing quality textbooks pays good money

I know someone who approached a manager in a publishing firm when he was in a fix hoping to get help and getting help he did.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Greed will tear our society apart

The late Professor Ali Mazrui, in the Annual Mazrui Newsletter No. 27 — which was a 70th birthday special edition — observed thus: “I suffered the aches of old age but enjoyed the privileges of being an elder.”

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

How you can develop script writing skills

One of the things that make me really proud to be Kenyan is our ability to deal with demons of self-doubt and display our resilience as we find solutions to problems bedeviling us.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Humour will make readers love your work

“What excuse do you have for coming home at six in the morning?” an angry Mrs Benda asks. “Breakfast ...” Bogi replies.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Teach the youth positive social values

Welcome to our world today. It is a world in which one must grow rich or die trying even if it means aping women from the West who became famous.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Opportunity for screenwriters

The Writers Guild of America strike that lasted 100 days, from late 2007 to early 2008, cost Hollywood billions of dollars.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

We must free our minds

Political leaders here have made it clear. United States president Barack Obama should not talk about homosexuality!

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Use education to promote creativity

Only when the last leaf has fallen, the last tree has died, and the last fish been caught will we realise that we cannot eat money.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Why put up shows just for visitors?

I was working and living in Dar es Salaam in 2008 when the then most powerful man on earth, George Walker Bush, visited.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Romance aside, these themes charm, too

Romance sells! During this year’s East African Digital Summit, one of the programme managers from Worldreader stated that romance novels were the most read, among the titles on their fiction collection, on their Kindle.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Sex and the nation

Some weeks ago, Binyavanga Wainaina was a trending topic on Twitter, thanks to his choice of dress. People thought that it was more appropriate on a woman, and not a man, no matter his sexual orientation.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Ngugi's secret to becoming a great writer

Someone once said there could never be too much of a good thing. Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o has travelled back to the US, yet he said much about writing while he was around for the last two weeks

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Ngugi on family, writing and the nation

I am itching to tell that story about you in Brazil. Should I tell?” Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o asked his son Bjorn Lanno.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Don’t let self-doubt kill your writing ambition

Jack London, an American author, once said, ‘You cannot wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.’ I know you have been reading this column, getting excited and saying I should do this; I should be writing.

By LUCAS WAFULA 10 years ago

Can long distance parenting work?

There is this thing that distance does where it subtracts warmth and context and history...” Those are the words of this year’s African region winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, Lesley Nneka Arimah from Nigeria.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Buy children books too, not just movies

There is excitement in the air as the celebration of Kenya’s pioneer novel, by a black Kenyan, Weep Not, Child, first published 51 years ago, draws closer.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

How to write stand-out stories

Many of us are creative, but we are also known for being perpetual copycats, in business, music and even writing.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Children fiction no child's play

How different is children’s literature from adult literature? This is a question one of our readers asked recently. I submit that young authors must establish these differences to produce quality work in all aspects of writing, for these two audiences.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Manage and manipulate language to be published

Have you ever wondered why some books sell a lot, and may even be turned into films while others don’t? Well, it all depends on what the author chooses to write about and how he or she writes the story.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Don’t keep me waiting...It’s all in the beginning

In the last two weeks, I have been exchanging emails with a would-be-writer infuriated with me.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Grace Ogot has left us in an island of tears

Grace Ogot is no more. Once again, the after-Africa has claimed a writer of note from our midst.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Want your work published? Here is how

Every time I tell people I am an editor, quite a few of them ask me how they can get their work published.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

Machismo is destroying our social fabric

I told my mother that, if a woman did not become angry at injustice, she would not be human. Those are the words of Nawal el Saadawi, the Egyptian feminist writer who has braved prison, exile and death threats in her fight against female oppression.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago

The short story fits perfectly

We advised our students to avoid the short stories. What with all the characters in those stories,” a teacher of English and Literature told me recently.

By Lucas Wafula 10 years ago