Penguin Books, Summer 2012 - Bookseller Services - Penguin Group

NGŨG Ĩ WA THIONG’O
A Grain of Wheat
Introduction by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Set in the wake of the Mau Mau rebellion and on the
cusp of Kenya’s independence from Britain, A Grain
of Wheat follows a group of villagers whose lives have
been transformed by the 1952–1960 Emergency. At the
center of it all is the reticent Mugo, the village’s chosen
hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret. As we
learn of the villagers’ tangled histories in a narrative
interwoven with myth and peppered with allusions to
real-life leaders, including Jomo Kenyatta, a masterly
story unfolds, one in which compromises are forced,
friendships are betrayed, and loves are tested.
Weep Not, Child
Foreword by Ben Okri
Two brothers, Njoroge and Kamau, stand on a garbage
heap and look into their futures: Njoroge is to attend
school, while Kamau will train to be a carpenter.
But this is Kenya, and the times are against them: in
the forests, the Mau Mau is waging war against the
white government, and the two brothers and their
family need to decide where their loyalties lie. For the
practical Kamau, the choice is simple, but for Njoroge
the scholar, the dream of progress through learning is
a hard one to give up.
First published in 1964, Weep Not, Child is a moving
novel about the effects of the infamous Mau Mau
uprising on the lives of ordinary men and women, and
on one family in particular.
A message from Chinua Achebe:
“ The Penguin African Writers
Series will bring a new energy
to the publication of African
literature. . . . By starting the series on
the solid foundations laid by the renowned
Heinemann African Writers Series, I am
honored to join Penguin in inviting young
and upcoming writers to accept the challenge
passed down by celebrated African authors
of earlier decades and to continue to explore,
confront, and question the realities of life in
Africa through their work, challenging Africa’s
people to lift her to her rightful place among
the nations of the world.”
ngugi wA thiong’o is an award-winning novelist, playwright,
and essayist from Kenya whose novels have been translated into more than
thirty languages. He lives in Irvine, California, where he is Distinguished Professor
of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California,
Irvine.
ABdulRAzAk guRnAh is the author of the Booker Prize–shortlisted
novel Paradise, among other novels. He was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania, and
teaches English literature at the University of Kent in England.
Ben okRi won the Booker Prize in 1991 for his novel The Famished
Road. He was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and lives in London.
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