92
Or, One Wild and Precious Life
Reader,
I am writing this earlier than last week’s despite Forgetting being a theme this week too. Just yesterday, I missed a short story reading which I’d asked folks to hold in their calendars. My apologies to everyone involved - I’m working to stay on top of things for the next one because I know they’re always a source of fun and community.
Instead of being at my desk doing the reading, I went to Mammito and Girlfriends (watch a pre-event interview with all five here) at the spur of the moment with my friend Maureen. It was refreshing to be in a room with lots of women, sharing laughs and being entertained by some of Kenya’s most publicly hilarious women.
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Triathlon Dreams
In a week when I was away from wage work, I put in my steps while running errands, not running the Couch to 5K. This is clearly another instalment when I ask if I should scrap this section (let me know by replying or in the comments) or if I should try something different.
Granted, I seemed to be sleeping off months of exhaustion this week so this is atypical, on the other I didn’t even dip a toe in a pool for a relaxing float so what’s what? /js
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If it sounds like I didn’t attend the NBO LitFest this weekend (Saturday programme here, Sunday programme here), it’s because I didn’t. Before you throw the tomatoes, here’s yesterday’s recording and, as I write this, there’s a YouTube Live featuring today’s sessions that’s ongoing (comes with KSL interpretation, which I highly appreciate).
Part of the reason I didn’t go was that I had gone to Nyumba Cinema to watch Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) with new and old members of the Miyazaki Film Club (many thanks, as always, to Sharon for starting the group) and the transition would have been far from smooth. I’m grateful for Wanjeri Gakuru, who alerted some of us to the recording, because now I can enjoy these sessions as I jump back into wage work tomorrow.
Speaking of wage work, I’ve thought about it a lot this week - doing it, taking a break from it, being compensated for it, being managed and so on. I’d love to read writing (articles, books, essays &c) that contemplate working in all its forms. Work can be consuming in so many ways and it would be something to read the thoughts of people who’ve thought about what work means for those of us who are millennials, not Westerners, not men, not rich etc
Quick news/ things that may be of interest:
Continuing this week at Goethe Institut: Amplitudes of Dawn, curated by Down River Road and Friends (among them Rosie Olang’, Alexis Teyie, and Sound of Nairobi)
Dracula Daily continues apace. Jump on if you’re keen
You can send me books, postcards, letters, and assorted items via PO Box 102439, Jamia Posta 00101, Nairobi, Kenya
I have finished one book since I last wrote to you - a hybrid read of Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires (read by Adenrele Ojo) and my latest video is of most of the books I read in April this year (you can watch it here). To catch the videos I’m working on when they’re done, subscribe to the channel if you haven’t yet!
As ever, please write back to me and tell me what books you’re reading or looking forward to reading — it’s always a great time talking about books.
Enjoy the rest of the week and have a lovely time reading. Talk to you soon!