Hadithi Hadithi?
A long time ago, in 1418, a Chinese commander and explorer by the name Zheng He set sail for the Swahili Seas. During this expedition, his ship capsized and most of his sailors disappeared, easily assumed dead. However, it is believed that a few of the sailors refused death and instead, braved the strong current, swimming ashore the various islands that make up the Lamu Archipelago. Stranded in this foreign place with no possibility of making their way home, the survivors made the best of the situation and settled on the different islands. They married the Swahili women and took on the Islamic faith.
This story, this rich history, is the inspiration behind Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor’s second book, The Dragonfly Sea.
Yvonne is a weaver of words and a patriot of Kenya. Her earliest recognition came in 2003 when she won the Caine Prize for African Writing for her novella “Weight of Whispers”. The story explored the life of an aristocratic Rwandese man and his family living as refugees in Nairobi and was written in a lyrical way that easily pulled its readers and introduced the world to Yvonne. Not only this, she was the second Kenyan to win the prize (after Binyavanga), cementing our country’s writing talent on the continent.
The following year, Weight of Whispers appeared in Kwani? Trust, a regional publication that focused on fiction by Africans. And later, the novella was published in McSweeny’s (an American literary journal) 37th Issue.
Then, in 2007, Yvonne’s short story – The Knife Grinder’s Tale – was adapted into a short film by R. L. Hooker. This tale exhibited a father’s quest to understand the reason for his son’s murder in the streets of Nairobi. This high was followed by a period of silence as Yvonne dived into a hiatus, working on her next work of fiction.
In 2014, she released her debut novel Dust: a story set in Kenya’s northern frontier of a family in mourning. The book was well received and shortlisted for the Folio Prize for the most outstanding literary work in the English language.
This year, Yvonne made us proud once again on March 1st when she launched her second book, The Dragonfly Sea, at Prestige Bookshop in Nairobi. This novel was the product of a year-long time of research, and an additional time writing, editing, and refining. The story beckons readers to experience Pate Island through the eyes and adventures of young Ayaana and her journey towards discovering her identity. Similar to the other stories by Yvonne, this book too, is rooted in Kenya, and in some way, invites us all to visit – or revisit – Pate in Lamu.
From March to date, The Dragonfly Sea has been recognized beyond our borders for its bold questioning of ancient links between Africa and Asia. But we aren’t the only ones praising Yvonne’s talent; The New York Times referred to her work as, “a paean of cultural diffusion and difference.”
The journey of a thousand miles truly begins with a single step. Yvonne is a Kenyan through and through, and because of her words, the ‘unknown’ regions of Kenya are depicted through story. Asante Yvonne, for your unwavering Kenyanness. 2019 has surely been your year!
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