Talking Gender: Conversations with Kenyan Women Writers

A new collection of interviews with a remarkable group of some of Kenya's most prominent literary writers, gender activists and public figures. The interviews are concerned with diverse aspects of Kenyan women's lives: what it is to be a woman, a writer, a politician or activst, a mother and all these simultaneously; how Kenyan women and the women's movement feel about Western feminism, feminist literature and identities, ideas on liberation and their relevance to the African context; political engagement, personal and professional relations between men and women, motherhood, marriage, child-rearing, traditional and contemporary polygamous arrangements and female circumcision. The interviews include a long exposition from Wanjiku Kabira on the history and future of the women's movement in Kenya and her role, and on institutions of power and polygamy; Majorie Olughe Macgoye on being a British born woman and writer who married into Luo society; Grace Ogot on herself as a writer, politician, wife, mother and grandmother, and what it means to be a modern African woman; Leah Muya on her role as a key figure in the struggle against female genital mutilation; and Margaret Ogola and Pat Ngurukie on the influence religion has had on them as African women and their writing. The intention of the male interviewer and editor is to allow African women to speak for themselves on gender issues in Africa, and to engage them in constructive and forward-thinking dialogues on issues affecting African women, which nonetheless take account of male perspectives.Kuria, Mike is the author of 'Talking Gender: Conversations with Kenyan Women Writers', published 2004 under ISBN 9789966803061 and ISBN 9966803068.