Binyavanga Wainaina is a man credited with fashioning a unique space for literature in Kenya through Kwani?, which he founded in 2003. It is probably for this reason that his memoir, One Day I Will Write About This Place, was so highly anticipated. Wainaina has always had an easy and colorful way with words, a facility that is ever present in the book. His journey begins in 1979, the year he turned seven and was living in Nakuru with his parents and two siblings. Here, we are introduced to a shy Wainaina who only seems content when his face is buried behind a book.

The author then carefully guides the reader though various historical events, such as the death of the nation’s founding father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, and the 1982 coup. But these events, which most Kenyan readers would be familiar with, are presented through the soft lens of a little boy’s life. The true strength of this work is the manner in which Wainaina is able to maintain the same narrative voice throughout the memoir, even as the narrator grows up and broadens his vocabulary.

When he tells tales of his rocky life in South Africa, of Mandela and Brenda Fassie, and later of Kenya, Togo and the United States, Wainaina manages to maintain that familiar tone he possesses in the early chapters of the book. He seems to be reminding us that he is still the same little boy with whom readers fell in love with at the start. Admittedly, one can struggle to figure out what the author’s true point of view was as he wrote One Day I Will Write About This Place. Does he actually have one? Wainaina makes no apology.

He has succeeded in telling a story that only he can tell, using his voice to speak his truth. So rid yourself of any expectations when beginning to read this oft-fascinating book. If you must expect something, let it be that you shall possibly find a comradein- arms within the pages of Wainaina’s memoir. One Day I Will Write About This Place will be launched on June 1st at Kenya Railways Museum, starting 6:30p.m.