Sun shines on the hay

It started with a tweet. A simple 140-worded reply made to an internationally acclaimed writer. “I follow British author Hari Kunrzu’s Twitter account and one day I happen to see him lament over the cliché that every book coming out of India had to have spices on the cover,” says the comely, curly-haired Aleya Jamel, Reading Promoter at StoryMoja. She replied tongue-in-cheek, “And it seems like most books coming out of Kenya have to have a lone acacia tree in a barren desert on the cover.”

Tickled, Hari began a short chat with Aleya. It was Fate. Months ago, the StoryMoja Publishers team had huddled together over hot mugs of tea drawing up an authors wish list. And Hari’s name was at the top of Aleya’s list. She decided to make hay while the sun shines. Aleya spoke to Hari about the then forthcoming StoryMoja Hay Festival.

A dazzling e-mail pitch later, the British Book Award and Somerset Maugham Award winning author agreed to headline the festival. Getting celebrated Booker Prize winner, Nigerian novelist and poet Ben Okri was astonishingly simple, if not serendipitous. “We had been following up with Ben’s agents for a while and thankfully the main Hay Festival team at Wales helped seal the deal,” she says.

Founded in 1987 the ‘Hay Festival’ is a gathering of literary minds. It gets its name from the Welsh border town of Hayon- Wye in Brecon Beacons, UK. Twenty-four years later, the festival has become a global non-profit institution that runs festivals and projects in 12 cities across the globe. Nairobi, through StoryMoja, is the festival’s host city on the continent. Aleya says, “We want our festival to become the ‘thinking person’s festival’ or better yet, the ‘festival of ideas’.”

They seem well on the way. A glimpse at the rest of the international line-up reveals literary heavyweights from various fields. Take for instance, there is Yusef Komunyakaa, the Pulitzer Prize winning American poet with a prolific repertoire. There’s also the hilarious Australian travel author, Peter Moore, who has published eight books, including two cheekily titled, ‘‘No Shitting In The Toilet (NSITT)” and “Swahili for the Broken Hearted”.

Abdelkader Benali is a Moroccan- Dutch writer and journalist who wrote his first book at 21 years-old. Stian Hole is a Norwegian illustrator and an author hailed as Scandinavia’s most innovative picture book illustrators. Beth Lisick is a storyteller, poet and New York Times Bestselling author whose year long journey trying out Self- Help books inspired the book ‘Helping me Help Myself’.

There’s also a man who claims to be the only stand-up comedian for children, Brit James Campbell, who has been getting the tots laughing for over 16 years. And that’s not all. Local writers, poets and illustrators such as Tony Mochama and Chris Lyimo will also hold court at the festival. “International Guests will feature alongside our very own writers and poets, which will add for an interesting dynamic, says Aleya.

“We thought a lot about who to bring to the festival and what benefits they would add to the local literary scene. Be Okri for instance represents the newer face of African Writing. His book ‘The Famished Road’ is phenomenal. After you read it you really do see spirits hiding in the trees.” Interestingly, Ben Okri is decribed as a ‘magic realist’, a term he takes issue with.

The festival presents an opportunity to ask him why as he shall conduct a Creative Writing workshop. Aleya says, “We have an action packed three days. Beginning from 11:00 a.m. to about 9:00 p.m., every hour will have three sessions running simultaneously. A kid’s corner will host the ‘Publish Your Own Book’ sessions and a funky science experiment section. They’ll also be storytelling, live discussion forums, workshops, debates, live performances, competitions and even mchongoano (teasing competiton).” She adds, “We want the festival to be the place that brings books to life and gives an insight into contemporary culture.”

Don’t miss a chance to hobnob with the local and international writers, poets and illustrators at the UP Lounge. Plush seats and good conversations guaranteed.

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