Half The List Of Ships

*This episode originally aired as Cosmonauts Avenue podcast #8 in March 2015* Binyavanga Wainaina is one of Africa's and the world's most recognized literary figures. He is a highly accomplished and multi-award-winning author, editor, publisher and journalist. He rose to prominence after his short story "Discovering Home" won the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing, after which he founded the influential literary magazine Kwani? - the first of its kind in East Africa. Following the renown of his 2003 satirical essay "How to Write About Africa," he was given an award by the Kenya Publisher's Association for his contributions to Kenyan literature. From 2008-2012 he was a Bard Fellow and Director of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Literature. His debut novel "One Day I Will Write About This Place" was published in 2011. In April 2014, Time Magazine named him one of the World's 100 Most Influential People.