Birth of a Dream Weaver: A Memoir of a Writer's Awakening

Birth of a Dream Weaver charts the very beginnings of a writer's creative output. In this wonderful memoir, Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o recounts the four years he spent in Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda-threshold years where he found his voice as a playwright, journalist, and novelist, just as Uganda, Kenya, Congo, and other countries were in the final throes of their independence struggles. James Ngugi, as he was known then, is haunted by the emergency period of the previous decade in Kenya, when his friends and relatives were killed during the Mau Mau Rebellion. He is also haunted. One of Oprah.com 's "17 Must-Read Books for the New Year" and O Magazine's "10 Titles to Pick up Now." "Exquisite in its honesty and truth and resilience, and a necessary chronicle from one of the greatest writers of our time. " —Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Guardian , Best Books of 2016. "Every page ripples with a contagious faith in education and in the power of literature to shape the imagination and scour the conscience." — The Washington Post From one of the world's greatest writers, the story of how the author found his voice as a novelist at Makerere University in Uganda Birth of a Dream Weaver charts the very beginnings of a writer's creative output. In this wonderful memoir, Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o recounts the four years he spent at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda—threshold years during which he found his voice as a journalist, short story writer, playwright, and novelist just as colonial empires were crumbling and new nations were being born—under the shadow of the rivalries, intrigues, and assassinations of the Cold War. Haunted by the memories of the carnage and mass incarceration carried out by the British colonial-settler state in his native Kenya but inspired by the titanic struggle against it, Ngũgĩ, then known as James Ngugi, begins to weave stories from the fibers of memory, history, and a shockingly vibrant and turbulent present. What unfolds in this moving and thought-provoking memoir is simultaneously the birth of one of the most important living writers—lauded for his "epic imagination" (Los Angeles Times)—the death of one of the most violent episodes in global history, and the emergence of new histories and nations with uncertain futures. "Birth of a Dream Weaver charts the very beginnings of a writer's creative output. In this wonderful memoir, Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o recounts the four years he spent at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda--threshold years during which he found his voice as a journalist, short story writer, playwright, and novelist just as colonial empires were crumbling and new nations were being born--under the shadow of the rivalries, intrigues, and assassinations of the Cold War. Haunted by the memories of the carnage and mass incarceration carried out by the British colonial-settler state in his native Kenya but inspired by the titanic struggle against it, Ngũgĩ, then known as James Ngugi, begins to weave stories from the fibers of memory, history, and a shockingly vibrant and turbulent present. What unfolds in this moving and thought-provoking memoir is simultaneously the birth of one of the most important living writers--lauded for his "epic imagination" (Los Angeles Times)--the death of one of the most violent episodes in global history, and the emergence of new histories and nations with uncertain futures."--Publisher's description Birth Of A Dream Weaver Charts The Very Beginnings Of A Writers Creative Output. In This Wonderful Memoir, Internationally Renowned Kenyan Writer And Author Of The Now-classic Wizard And The Crow, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o Recounts The Four Years He Spent In Makerere University In Kampala, Uganda--threshold Years Where He Found His Voice As A Playwright, Journalist, And Novelist, Just As Uganda, Kenya, Congo, And Other Countries Were In The Final Throes Of Their Independence Struggles,--novelist. Prologue -- The Wound In The Heart -- A Wounded Land -- Reds And Blacks -- Benzes, Sneakers, Frisbees, And Flags -- Penpoints And Fig Trees -- Writing For The Money Of It -- Black Dolls And Black Masks -- Transition And That Letter From Paris -- Boxers And Black Hermits -- Pages, Stages, Spaces -- Coal, Rubber, Silver, Gold, And New Flags -- Working For The Nation -- Notes And Notebooks -- A Hell Of A Paradise. Ngũgĩ Wa Thiongʼo. Includes Bibliographical References. Ngugi wa Thiong'o recounts the four years he spent in Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda - threshold years where he found his voice as a playwright, journalist, and novelist, just as Uganda, Kenya, Congo, and other countries were in the final throes of their independence struggles