Bethuel Muthee, Ema Tinje, and James Murua were the featured writers at the “Nairobi | Maps of Exile” Literary Salon at the Coffee Casa, Nairobi on Thursday, February 27, 2020. The event was moderated by Bhakti Shringarpure.
The new literary salon series “Nairobi | Maps of Exile” is organised by independent online magazine Warscapes and The Carrot Co, a collective of award-winning African artists and other professions with an art focus. It examines questions of home, belonging, migration, and marginalization while exploring and redrawing the maps of African identity. The first edition of the salon featured Itoro Bassey, Abdul Adan, and Lutivini Majanja while the second had Kevin Mwachiro, Faith Oneya, and Saba El Lazim Elbasha.
The third edition hosted Bethuel Muthee, Ema Tinje, and James Murua with moderation by Bhakti Shringarpure at its traditional home of Coffee Casa. Muthee is a poet who dabbles in several other genres as well as edits. He read both his poetry and poetry of other writers that he respects after asking for a moment of silence for Kamau Braithwaite who passed away recently.
Ema Tinje has written the short story collection Nostalgia and Other Short Stories which is in the romance genre. She read from her collection, which was also on sale, titillating those who were present with a story of a couple in Nairobi. While James Murua is known in the African literary community for his reporting he is known in Nairobi for his satire. The Nairobi-born writer shared with the audience the two pieces, I Am A Nairobian, Mum and When Harry Married Meghan: Nairobi Edition.
With the writers having shared their work, event moderator Bhakti Shringarpure spoke to them about their writing and motivations before opening it to the audience. Check out videos from the event taken using our trusty cellphone.
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