Latest arts stories from across Kenya.
I’m seated at home on a Friday evening. It has been an intense week and all I can think of is resting. My friends have called me several times asking me to go drink with them but I’ve turned them all down. I just want to be alone. The…
“Good evening lovely people!” Charlie shouted as the audience cheered as loud as they possibly could. “How are you all doing? To start us off I’d just like to say thank you for your never-ending support. Here’s a song I wrote when I was a…
Bianca and Bob had the most wonderful love story. Theirs was a story that proved the theory that love is blind. The universe brought them together from opposite ends of the earth and together they created something beautiful. Everyone who…
I have always had a type; tall, chocolate-coloured and intelligent. Those are the kind of girls I’m attracted to. Not to say that other girls aren’t pretty but this is just my preference, and I can’t think of it any other way. Most of the…
In the outskirts of a popular town called Shalla, there lived a man who could prophesy the future. His name was Moussa, and he was about 50 years of age. Media houses had tried to cover him on Television and radio but as soon as the…
In the heart of The Central Business District, sandwiched between two major highways, is a yellowish vintage building that seems to have been painted last in the 1900s. The structure of the building is quite aesthetically pleasing if you…
My friend and I had been invited to a birthday party when we were in campus. The host of the party was a popular figure around campus so we knew it was going to be a huge event. It was an invite-only party so no gate crashers were being…
My search history tabs were always cleared without fail. I would literally jump out of bed in the middle of the night when my anxiety reminded me that someone might snoop around and meet the ghosts that haunted me. I was always on my toes,…
I had never ever experienced someone else’s pain until I found my brother kneeling on the floor crying his heart out. It was unbelievable, I had never seen Alvin shed a tear in my 22 years of living. Yet here he was, looking defeated,…
Sammy, a friend of mine from Primary school, called me last week to invite me to his wedding. He wanted us to meet so he could personally hand me the invitation card and we could catch up over a happy hour. Immediately after finishing our…
Leila has it all, the dream job she wanted and the kind of life she always wanted. But her past comes back to haunt her in the worst way. They have a new boss and the boss is her ex who broke her heart and humiliated her by making another…
“Girl, have you seen our new boss?” My friend Maggie half-whispered, half-shouted leaning over my desk and holding her coffee. It was nearly eleven-thirty and I was nowhere near done with my morning schedule. I didn’t have time for her…
It was 6 o’clock when Susan left her friend Shiku’s house to go home. It had been a great Saturday afternoon hanging out, finishing their math homework and talking about their crushes. At 16, their list of crushes was long and they spent…
Sheila has always been a free spirit; adventurous at heart. Very little fazed her. Sometimes this would make her stand out in our crowd of friends as people expressed their distaste or dissatisfaction with a certain topic. To her, as long…
I opened this book with very high expectations and I am pleased to say that it exceeded my expectations. In fact, I was disappointed that no one thought to point me towards this book earlier. This beautiful classic was written in 1979 by a…
It was the morning of the day after Sebastian had left for Italy five years ago. You pull up at the airport and wait as you watch passengers file by. Your phone vibrates, it’s Sebastian telling you he is at the arrivals terminal wearing a…
Sam sat under the dancing sun of Nairobi digging for gold in his nostrils. “Hii jua ni kali eh?” Njoroge, the matatu driver, Sam’s best friend asked lazily. He was dressed in a pair of torn dusty coloured trousers, a shirt begging to…
I look down at the sticky wet mess between my legs. There was a red stain attached to my dress and I choked on a heart-wrenching sob. It was happening again. “No God! Please no…” the sharp pain in my gut overtakes my cries as it seems to…
I could feel myself shaking in righteous anger. Tony or whatever the hell he was called let out a string of curses as he touched the place on his cheek that had been hit. My hand stung with heat and I knew that if I was light skinned my…
I remember the first time I saw her. I must admit, it was not as I had pictured it. It was a hot sunny day (I could have sworn the doomsday environmentalist’s prediction had come true, no ozone layer or something like that). She was in…
My love was a poem, Written just for you. My love was a smile that lit up my face, Yet now it is the tears that run down my face. You are my heaven yet my hell. My love for you is the cross that I must bear, It wears me down, With its pain…
Green pastures, In the City in the Sun, That’s how I saw them with naive eyes, Reflections gathered from films, That made the big city so glamorous. I had a dream, That one day I would be a superstar, I would wow the audience with the…
THE REPUBLIC OF UDASA In a village on the eastern side of the country In a forest about one kilometre from the village The men had been deliberating the whole day. They had planned the operation and laid out strategies of how they would…
“Saidia maskini. Mungu ata kubariki” That’s my opening line when I see someone passing me on the street. I am a beggar, you see. I am that guy with a missing leg and a leg brace next to me. This has been my street corner for the last 5…
