Meja Mwangi

Meja Mwangi (born 1948) is one of Kenya's leading novelists. Mwangi has worked in the film industry, including screenwriting, assistant directing, casting and location management.

Mwangi was born in Nanyuki, and was educated at Nanyuki Secondary School, Kenyatta College and the University of Leeds. He then worked on odd-jobs for foreign broadcasters before he turned to full-time writing. He was Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa (1975-6).

Prizes and awards

• Jomo Kenyatta Prize, for Kill Me Quick (1974)
• Jomo Kenyatta Prize for, Going Down River Road (1977)
• Lotus Award (Afro-Asian Writers' Association) (1978)
• Noma Award (honourable mention), for Bread of Sorrow (1989)
• Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize), for Little White Man (1992)
• Le Prix Lire au College, for Kariuki (1992)
• Jomo Kenyatta Prize for The Last Plague (2001)
• National Book Week Award (Kenya) for The Last Plague
• Nominated for International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, for The Last Plague (2002)
• Society of School Librarians International Honor Book Award (USA), for The Mzungu Boy (2005)
• American Library Association National Book for Children Award, for The Mzungu Boy (2006)
• Children's Africana Book Award (best book for older readers), for The Mzungu Boy (2006)

Literary works

• Kill Me Quick (1973) ISBN 0435901435
• Going Down River Road (1976) ISBN 0435901761
• The Cockroach Dance (1979) ISBN 0582642760
• Carcase for Hounds (1974) ISBN 0435901451
• Taste of Death (1975)
• The Bushtrackers (1979) ISBN 0582785251
• Bread of Sorrow (1987)
• The Return of Shaka (1989)
• Weapon of Hunger (1989) ISBN 9966498133
• Striving for the Wind (1990) ISBN 0435909797
• The Last Plague (2000) ISBN 9966250646
• Mountain of Bones (2001)
• The Boy Gift (2006) ISBN 9781847284716
• Mama Dudu, the Insect Woman (2007) ISBN 9781847284686
• Baba Pesa (2007) ISBN 9780979647611
• The Big Chiefs (2007) ISBN 9780979647635
• Gun Runner (2007) ISBN 9780979647604
• Power (2009) ISBN 9780979647697
• Blood Brothers (2009) ISBN 9780982012604

Filmography

• Out of Africa (1985), assistant director
• White Mischief (1987, second assistant director
• The Kitchen Toto, casting director
• Gorillas in the Mist (1985), assistant director
• Shadow On The Sun (1988), location manager

References

• Contemporary Writers: Meja Mwangi
• Meja Mwangi at the Internet Movie Database

External links

• Official website
• Post-Independence Disillusionment in Contemporary African Fiction: The Example of Meja Mwangi's "Kill Me Quick". by Ayo Kehinde

Persondata
Name	Mwangi, Meja
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Date of birth	1948
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