Big names at this year’s StoryMoja Hay Festival

They are calling it a chance to ‘stroke your biggest erogenous zone. Three days of uncensored, engaging stimulation.’ Get your mind out of the gutter. The StoryMoja Hay Festival running this September 15 -18^th at the Railway Club is a chance to meet with the brightest thinkers from home and abroad.

Organized in collaboration with Storymoja, the Hay Festival (UK) and British Council, this year the festival will feature everyone from a Pulitzer Prize winning poet, to a Man Booker Prize winning author. Also the world’s only stand-up comedian for children, funky science experiments, storytelling workshops and sessions with the world’s funniest travel author.

Make sure to pass by the UP Lounge and mingle with the UP Team as well as celebrated authors such as Nigerian author Ben Okri. Often described as one of Africa’s greatest writers, Ben Okri is a Nigerian poet and novelist. Since he published his first novel, Flowers and Shadows in 1980, Okri has risen to the international acclaim. His best known work, The Famished Road, was awarded the 1991 Booker Prize. He has also won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa, the Agha Khan Prize for Fiction and was given a Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum.

Okri’s first-hand experiences of civil war in Nigeria are said to have inspired many of his works. He writes about the mundane and the metaphysical, the individual and the collective, drawing the reader into a world with vivid descriptions. His latest book, Tales of Freedom, published in 2009, brings together poetry and story.

Also at the festival will be Australian travel author, Peter Moore- who just visited his 100^th country. With eight books under his sleeves, Peter has acquired the reputation of being one of the world’s funniest off-the-beaten-track travel writers. It all started when he tossed in his job, travelled around the Equator and wrote a book about it- ‘No Shitting In The Toilet (NSITT)’. The book is a celebration of all that’s perverse about travel: it really is the travel guide for when you’ve lost it.

Peter will share travel-writing tips, as well as discuss his book ‘Swahili for the Broken Hearted' at the festival.The book follows his travels from the southernmost city in Africa, to the pyramids of Egypt, using only public transportation: Wild animals, corrupt border guards, political turmoil, upset tummies- this book has got it all.

Also at the festival will be Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa, an American poet with a prolific repertoire. He has written over nine volumes of poetry, co-edited seven anthologies, and produced various works of prose. Besides being a famous member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the 2007 Louisiana Writer Award for his enduring contribution to the poetry world.

In his poetry, Yusef Komunyakaa weaves together the elements of his own life in short lines of vernacular to create complex images of life in his native Louisiana and the jungles of Vietnam. From his humble beginnings as the son of a carpenter, Komunyakaa has travelled far to become a scholar, professor and prize-winning poet. Komunyaaka is currently a professor in the Creative Writing Program at New York University.

Be sure to have a chat with Abdelkader Benali, a Moroccan-Dutch writer and journalist. He has been described as one of the Netherlands leading writers. Benali wrote his debut Wedding by the Sea, aged 21. The astonishing novel, about a Dutch Moroccan who goes back to his home country in search of his sister’s deserted bridegroom, received the Geertjan Lubberhuizen Prize. In a recent trip through Africa, preparing his latest book, The Road to Cape Town, Benali observed the extraordinary link that connects African society and football, a sport that has become a badge of identity. The book tells of the writer’s travel through five countries – the Ivory Coast, Mali, Ghana, Morocco, and South Africa.

And here's something for those who love to draw. Stian Hole, a Norwegian illustrator and an author of national and international recognition will also set up at the festival. Graphic artist and designer, Hole is among Scandinavia’s most innovative picture book illustrators. In 2005, Stian Hole published his debut book in children literature, The Old man and The Whale, which has received much attention. In 2009, he won the children’s literature Prize by the ‘Nordic Association of School Librarians” as well as the prestigious Brage Award. Stian will be a guest illustrator in the Children’s Village for the Publish Your own Book sessions, as well as do a live showcase of his innovative digital collage illustrations.

Enter the wild world of self-help books. New York Times bestselling author Beth Lisick , fed up of feeling bogged down by the same old problems decided to take a year long journey to become the happier, better person from ‘ Chicken Soup for the Soul’, to ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, to ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’. Beth chronicles her journey of self-help books in this hilarious and insightful book. At the Storymoja Hay Festival, Beth talks about her foray into the multi-billion dollar world of self-improvement. “Helping me Help Myself” (is) funny from the belly button instead of the mouth corners. Lisick has created a hilarious, knowing tale of a year of willing ridiculousness.”---San Francisco Chronicle.

Warm up your funny bones- the world’s only stand-up comedian for children is coming to Storymoja Hay Festival! James Campbell is writer, storyteller, and comedian. Over the last 16 years, he has visited over 1500 schools and has performed his Comedy 4 Kids show at festivals and theatres all over the world. James comedy show pokes fun about everything that kids care about...or for that matter anyone who has ever been a kid. Everything from parents, to why we have hair and what we had for breakfast.

This show is for children over 6 years old, their parents, and anybody who enjoys top-notch comedy without the swearing. Rib tickling, bend over, throw your head back, and roar with laughter funny! - make sure you pee before the show!- check out the Storymoja Hay Festival to see when James show is on and also catch his other sessions including the Never ending story. “His stand-up has achieved almost holy status- don’t miss.” Sunday Times.

Last, and certainly not least, British Book Award winner Hari Kunzru will also be at the festival. He is the author of novels, The Impressionist (2000), Transmission (2004) and My Revolutions (2007) as well as a short story collection Noise (2006). His work has been translated into twenty-one languages and won him the Somerset Maugham award. In 2003, Granta named him one of its twenty best young British novelists. Hari will be launching his newest books Gods without Men at the StoryMoja Hay Festival this year. (U)tterly captivating : a deliciously satirical, humane and very enjoyable novel”- Michael Dirda The Washington Post on Hari Kunzru’s novel 'Transmission'.

Eight phenomenal writers from different literary fields. One venue. The StoryMoja Hay Festival, September 16-18th, Railway Club Grounds.

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