Kenyan author sets new publishing record
Nairobi, Kenya – Award-winning writer/critic Alexander Nderitu published ten new books in 2023 alone. This is a first for Africa where publishing is still in its infancy, accounting for an estimated 2% – 3% percent of global book production. The titles spanned stage plays, poetry collections, and non-fiction works. Mr. Nderitu -who published Africa’s first purely digital novel – 2001’s When the Whirlwind Passes – authored all the books without any assistance from researchers, co-writers, or Artificial Intelligence writing software.
In order of production, the books are Yuppies!; What’s Wrong With This Picture?; The Stacy Walker Interview; Hannah And The Angel: Volume 1 – Angels ‘R’ Us; King Bure Is Dead!; A Body Made For Sin; Where The Kremlin Live; Kenyan Theatre: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly; This Time With Feeling: Essays on Theatre; and Hannah And The Angel Vol.2: Comedy Roast. All the titles are available worldwide, in print and digital formats, at Amazon and/or Nuria bookstore.
Also in 2023, Nderitu was shortlisted for the E. E. Sule/SEVHAGE Books Award for African Criticism and co-won the SEVHAGE-Agema Founders’ Prize for Criticism for an essay titled ‘The Cartography of Human Behaviour’, which explores the potential of vernacular theatre in East Africa. In addition, he contributed a short story titled ‘Her Name Will Be Peace’ to the forthcoming 2023 Mukana Press Anthology.
Alexander Nderitu is a poet, novelist, playwright, and critic. He was born on April 23rd, which is also William Shakespeare’s birthday and UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day. Some of his work has been translated into Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Kiswahili, French, Swedish, Dholuo, Gikũyũ, and Czech. In 2017, the Business Daily newspaper named him one of Kenya’s ‘Top 40 Under 40 Men’. His other accolades include a Share Africa Climate Fiction Award and the IHRAF Africa Playwriting Competition prize. In 2023, he was shortlisted for the E. E. Sule/SEVHAGE Books Award for African Criticism and co-won the SEVHAGE-Agema Founders’ Prize for Criticism.
According to a report by the International Publishers Association, the African book market was worth an estimated $1.2 billion in 2019, with South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya being the largest book markets. The report also noted that the African book market is relatively small compared to other regions, accounting for only 1% of global publishing revenue.
