In the House of the Interpreter: A Memoir

Renowned novelist, poet, playwright, and literary critic Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o was a student at a prestigious, British-run boarding school near Nairobi when the tumultuous Mau Mau Uprising for independence and Kenyan sovereignty gripped his country. While he enjoyed scouting trips and chess tournaments, his family home was razed to the ground and his brother, a member of the insurgency, was captured by the British and taken to a concentration camp. But Ngũgĩ could not escape history, and eventually found himself jailed after a run in with the forces of colonialism.

Ngũgĩ richly and poignantly evokes the experiences that would transform him into a world-class writer and, as a political dissident, a moral compass to us all. A winning celebration of the implacable determination of youth and the power of hope, here is a searing account of the history of a man--and the story of a nation.

Author: Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Published: 05/12/2015
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9781101910511
ISBN10: 1101910518
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Literary Figures
- Literary Criticism | African
- Biography & Autobiography | Memoirs

About the Author

Ngũgĩ wa'Thiong'o has taught at Nairobi University, Northwestern University, Amherst College, Yale University, and New York University. He is Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine. His many books include Wizard of the Crow, Dreams in a Time of War, Devil on the Cross, Decolonising the Mind, and Petals of Blood, for which he was imprisoned by the Kenyan government in 1977.