Renowned author Henry Ole Kulet dies in Nakuru hospital after a short illness

Henry Ole Kulet, a three time Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature award winning author, has died.  Kulet, who was 75 years old, died at MediHeal Hospital in Nakuru last night, after a short illness. Kulet’s writing career spanned 46 years and is well-known for books with captured cultural, environmental and social issues.  

Some of Kulet’s published novels include Blossoms of the Savannah, The Hunter, Maisha ya Hatari, Moran No More, Vanishing Herds, The Elephant Dance and Daughter of Maa, a book about a quiet sleepy village driven into frenzy by the arrival of a young beautiful teacher named Annah.

His first book Is it possible? was published in 1971 followed by How to Become a Man which he wrote the following year. In 1999, he penned Bandits of Kibi. In 2008 his novel, Blossoms of the Savannah became a Literature setbook for secondary schools in Kenya for the class of 2018.

The novel was also nominated for the prestigious International Dublin Impact Award, the same year it was released, while back at home, it won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature a year later..

Outside Kenya’s borders, one of Kulet’s books, his first novel, Is It Possible? (1971), was a compulsory set book for schools in the neighboring Tanzania.

Born in the village of Enkare-Ngusur in Narok, Kulet went to Egerton College where he studied farm management. He retired from his career in 1987 and took on writing as a full time job, publishing nine novels.