• The Ghost of Ratemo (Junior African Writers Series Level 2)

    Level 2 is suited to learners who have been studying English for 4-5 years. Short sentences and a large number of illustrations combine to make these books both enjoyable and easy to read, either individually or in class. Learners have a wide variety of stories to choose from.

    Ratemo and his father set out to deliver a coffin to the next village. Ratemo, feeling tired, decides to sleep in the coffin. When he wakes up, his father has disappeared. And Ratemo is surrounded by strange men.

  • The Boy Who Rode a Lion (Junior African Writers Series Level 2)

    Level 2 is suited to learners who have been studying English for 4-5 years. Short sentences and a large number of illustrations combine to make these books both enjoyable and easy to read, either individually or in class. Learners have a wide variety of stories to choose from.

    In this comic story set in Kenya at the turn of the century, Kamau earns money for his school fees by guarding sheep from a lion.

  • The Gonjon Pin and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2014

    The Caine Prize for African Writing 2014 brings together the five shortlisted authors’ stories along with 12 other stories from the best new writers. Insightful, arresting and entertaining – this collection reflects the richness and range of current African writing.

    Caine Prize 2014 Shortlisted Stories:
    Phosphorescence Diane Awerbuck (South Africa)
    Chicken Efemia Chela (Ghana/Zambia)
    The Intervention Tendai Huchu (Zimbabwe)
    The Gorilla’s Apprentice Billy Kahora (Kenya)
    My Father’s Head Okwiri Oduor (Nigeria)

    The Caine Prize African Writers’ Workshop Stories 2014:
    The Lifebloom Gift Abdul Adan (Somalia/Kenya)
    The Gonjon Pin Martin Egblewogbe (Ghana)
    As A Wolf Sweating Your Mother’s Body Clifton Gachagua (Kenya)
    Pam Pam Lawrence Hoba (Zimbabwe)
    Lily in the Moonlight Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria)
    Running Elnathan John (Nigeria)
    The Murder of Ernestine Masilo Violet Masilo (Zimbabwe)
    All the Parts of Mi Isabella Matambanadzo (Zimbabwe)
    Blood Work Barbara Mhangami-Ruwende (Zimbabwe)
    The Sonneteer Philani A Nyoni (Zimbabwe)
    Eko Hotel Chinelo Okparanta (Nigeria)
    Music from a Farther Room Bryony Rheam (Zimbabwe)
  • Renewable Energy: Conservation (Kawi Renewable Energy #3)

    The Kawi popular science series on Renewable Energy is a unique collection of children’s books which educates the reader on the various forms of energy. The books present scientific explanation of how natural elements can be exploited in order to increase energy supply in Africa. The series comprises of six books and focuses on solar energy, hydropower, wind, biogas and wood fuel.

    Authors from different regions in Africa were commissioned to develop an interesting set of books, which expose the vastness and abundance of Africa’s natural resources. They provide ample African cultural and traditional examples which have sustained the continent’s energy needs and application for years. A wide range of activities, exercises drawn from African experiences have been used to make the series lively and relevant to young African readers.

    Book 3 is a very enriching book, which presents various ways of conserving energy. It gives numerous suggestions of how to save energy through the correct choice of appliances. Interesting exercises have been developed to reinforce to children that the proper use of natural resources contributes to energy conservation. Examples and experiences include traditional and cultural practices from across Africa made exciting through vivid illustrations and photographs.

    The author, Alfonso Dominic Nyorch, is currently a senior education officer with the City of Nairobi, Kenya.

    Titles in the Kawi Renewable Energy series include:

    • Book 1 Renewable Energy – Sources
    • Book 2 Renewable Energy – Uses
    • Book 3 Renewable Energy – Conservation
    • Book 4 Renewable Energy – Conversion
    • Book 5 Renewable Energy – Storage
    • Book 6 Renewable Energy – Challenges for Africa

    The Kawi series is the product of a project implemented jointly by UNESCO and the African Publishers’ Network with support from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Canadian International Development Agency.

  • Weep Not, Child (African Writers Series, AWS7)

    A powerful, moving story that details the effects of the infamous Mau Mau war, the African nationalist revolt against colonial oppression in Kenya, on the lives of ordinary men and women, and on one family in particular. Two brothers, Njoroge and Kamau, stand on a rubbish heap and look into their futures. Njoroge is excited; his family has decided that he will attend school, while Kamau will train to be a carpenter. Together they will serve their country – the teacher and the craftsman.

    But this is Kenya and the times are against them. In the forests, the Mau Mau is waging war against the white government, and the two brothers and their family need to decide where their loyalties lie. For the practical Kamau the choice is simple, but for Njoroge the scholar, the dream of progress through learning is a hard one to give up.

  • Gathering Seaweed: African Prison Writing (African Writers Series)

    This anthology introduces the African literature of incarceration to the general reader, the scholar, the activist and the student. The visions and prison cries of the few African nationalists imprisoned by colonialists, who later became leaders of their independent dictatorships and in turn imprisoned their own writers and other radicals, are brought into sharper focus, thereby critically exposing the ironies of varied generations of the efforts of freedom fighters.

    Extracts of prose, poetry and plays are grouped into themes such as arrest, interrogation, torture, survival, release and truth and reconciliation.

    Contributors include: Kunle Ajibade, Obafemi Awolowo, Steve Biko, Breyten Breytenbach, Dennis Brutus, Nawal El Saadawi, M J Kariuki, Kenneth Kaunda, Caesarina Kona Makhoere, Nelson Mandela, Emma Mashinini, Felix Mnthali, Augustino Nato, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Kwame Nkrumah, Abe Sachs, Ken Saro Wiwa, Wole Soyinka, and Koigi wa Wamwere.

    Although an often harrowing indictment of the history, culture and politics of the African continent and the societies from which this literature comes, the anthology presents excellent prose, poetry and drama, which stands up in its own right as serious literature to be cherished, read and studied.

  • A Grain of Wheat (African Writers Series, AWS36)

    Barack Obama, via Facebook: “A compelling story of how the transformative events of history weigh on individual lives and relationships.”

    The Nobel Prize–nominated Kenyan writer’s best-known novel

    Set in the wake of the Mau Mau rebellion and on the cusp of Kenya’s independence from Britain, A Grain of Wheat follows a group of villagers whose lives have been transformed by the 1952–1960 Emergency. At the center of it all is the reticent Mugo, the village’s chosen hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret. As we learn of the villagers’ tangled histories in a narrative interwoven with myth and peppered with allusions to real-life leaders, including Jomo Kenyatta, a masterly story unfolds in which compromises are forced, friendships are betrayed, and loves are tested.

  • The Black Hermit (African Writers Series, AWS51)

    In this play, Remi, the first of his tribe to go to university, ponders whether or not he should return to his people. Or should he continue to be a black hermit in the town? Amidst the backdrop of a politically torn country, Remi himself is torn between his sense of tribalism and nationalism. This struggle runs deep, as he finds it at the heart of his afflictions between himself, his marriage and familial relations, and his greater sense of obligations to his people and the country. The overwhelming nature of these problems drives him into isolation as a black hermit. His self-imposed exile into the city leads him to find contentment in the Jane, his new lover, and nightly clubbing. However, after he is lobbied to return to the tribe, he must now confront the demons of his past.

    The Black Hermit was the first published East African play in English. The play was published in a small edition by Makerere University Press in 1963, and republished in Heinemann’s African Writers Series in 1968.

  • Akiki Learns Healthy Habits

    Age Range: 3 – 9 years

    Akiki learns Healthy Habits with Activities and Recipes.

    Enjoy this book as Akiki discovers and learns ‘a healthy body is a happy body’.

    This book has been designed with fun engagement activities to encourage healthy eating behaviour and easy recipes that will be exciting to add to school snacks.

  • Africa Writes Back: The African Writers Series & the Launch of African Literature

    June 17, 2008, is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart by Heinemann. This publication provided the impetus for the foundation of the African Writers Series in 1962 with Chinua Achebe as the editorial adviser. This narrative, drawing liberally on the correspondence with the authors, concentrates on the adventurous first twenty-five years.

    Africa Writes Back: The African Writer’s Series & the Launch of African Literature captures the energy of literary publishing in a new and undefined field. Portraits of the leading characters and the many consultants and readers providing reports and advice to new and established writers make Africa Writes Back a stand-out book. James Currey’s voice and insights are an added bonus.

  • Too Young to Die (Pacesetters)

    When two young honeymooners arrive in Nairobi, little do the authorities realise they are up against two experts in the world of organised crime. Their job is to steal a precious stone from a Maasai tycoon and they are successful…until events turn against them.

  • The Border Runners (Pacesetters)

    Waichari’s parents are tragically killed in a car crash leaving him with huge debts and a younger brother and sister to care for. Their farm will have to be auctioned unless Waichari can find the money. There is only one way to get it quickly – Waichari will have to risk everything by joining the smuggling trade (magendo) at Chepkube on the Kenyan/Ugandan border. It is a dangerous game and he cannot even tell Janet, the girl he loves, what he is doing.

  • Thorns of Life (Pacesetters)

    Kalunde is no longer young and attractive, but as she struggles to rescue the crumbling marriage between her only son and the beautiful Nzivele, she reveals her own story of singular courage and purpose. In her quiet way, she holds together the very threads of life, in defiance of famine and its trail of desolation.

  • Operation Rhino (Pacesetters)

    Throughout the world the rhino population has been exterminated by ruthless men, greedy for their own wealth. Only in East Africa is there any hope of stemming the tide. A band of dedicated conservationists, led by Dr Hanna Mwaura, are determined to save the species. There is no room in Hanna’s life for anything else – even for love. But ranged against them are the forces of evil – and they seem always to be one step ahead of the conservationists…

  • The Equatorial Assignment (Pacesetters)

    The newly appointed Benni Kamba, 009 in the secret service of NISA, risks his life to destroy an international Afro-Mafia organization which is trying to rule all African by planting puppet Presidents in every state. They are led by the megalomaniac Dr Thunder. 009 falls victim to the beautiful Colonel Swipta. His true love is almost forgotten as he penetrates the base from which she and Dr. Thunder operate.

Main Menu