There was a literary caravan with storytellers, writers, poets and more across the three Kenyan counties of Machakos, Nakuru, and Kakamega from May 27-29, 2019.
The ‘Literary Caravan’ is an initiative of the Goethe Institut to promote reading among Kenyan youth. The caravan had authors of children and youth literature, storytellers, publishers, and reading advocates visit selected schools in Machakos, Nakuru, and Kakamega. The Goethe was supported by Writers Guild Kenya, Ministry of Sports, Art and Culture, Nsemia Publishers, KBC English Service, Storymoja Africa, AllForBooks and Write Academy.
Apart from the hundreds of children reached there were workshops for teacher-librarians who accompanied their students. The caravan had folks like Patrick Ngugi, Wangari The Storyteller, children’s writer Jennie “Shi Scribbles” Marima, Gabriel Oguda, Goethe Institut’s Elizabeth Wichenje, and several others At all events books were donated to students by All for Books and Write Academy, Nsemia publishers, and Storymoja. You can watch a quick recap of the events over the three days at Shi Scribbles YouTube channel below.
Machakos County – May 27, 2019
Thirteen schools gathered at St. John’s Secondary School in Mwala sub-county, Machakos for the first day of the caravan. Four hundred students had a storytelling session and creative writing workshops facilitated by various authors while 26 Teacher-Librarians had a separate workshop conducted by Writers Guild’s Gabriel Oguda.
Taking part in the caravan were Stephen Mau the Director of Library Services, Ministry of Sports and Culture, a team from the Kenya Writers’ Guild, All for Books and Write Academy. Also, there was Khainga O’Okwemba who runs “Books Café” the only literary leaning show in English in Kenya on KBC English Service. Below are images from that session.
Nakuru County – May 28, 2019.
Molo Academy, Nakuru County was the host of the second day of the caravan with 825 pupils participating in a storytelling session, motivational talks and creative writing workshops facilitated by authors and volunteers from the Writers’ Guild of Kenya. Author Kinyanjui Kombani, an alumnus of the school, also conducted a call-in interview for the class 8 pupils. The teacher-librarians had a separate workshop, led by Muthoni Kibandi, former Kenya National Library Services Director and currently University Librarian at St. Paul’s University. Below are images from that session.
Kakamega County – May 29, 2019
The 3rd day of the Literary Caravan in Kakamega was at St. Joseph’s Academy and Amalemba Primary. At St. Joseph’s Academy, 150 pupils from seven schools congregated for a storytelling session with George Chunga followed by creative writing workshops. At Amalemba Primary, Standard 8 pupils were entertained in a story-telling session by George Chunga. Below are images from that session.
All images are by Julian Manjahi and are courtesy of the Goethe Institut.
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