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The House of Rust and Swahili Culture – Interview with Mombasa writer Khadija Abdalla Bajaber -engl
Khadija Bajaber had written a successful book last year, The House of Rust, which was recognized very well in african countries and abroad (see also the review of Lorna Likiza on this site). Raised and living in Mombasa, Kenya, she is strongly influenced with Swahili Culture and its long and rich history. This year, Khadija Bajaber is an invited guest at the African Book Festival in Berlin. I took the chance to talk to her before she left for Europe. And, yes, the answers are longer than in usual interviews. But its published here in full lenght version. For the first issue, only in english this time.
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Ally Abdallah: The Book, the Festival, Zanzibar and the Nobel Prize winner – Interview engl/ger
It is a great event, a great surprise that Ally Abdalla has managed to pull off. For the first literature festival in Zanzibar, Ally was able to attract no less than the current winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Abdulraznak Gurnah. For Gurnah, who is from Zanzibar but had to leave the island in the 1960s, it is a triumphant event to be back. At the Heroe Book Fair in Mombasa, I spoke with author, filmmaker and organizer of the new cultural event in Zanzibar, Ally Abdalla.
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A phantastic Mombasa journey: The House of Rust – Book Review by Lorna Likiza – engl/ger
A phantastic Mombasa journey: "The House of Rust is an enchanting novel about a Hadhrami girl in Mombasa. When her fisherman father goes missing, Aisha takes to the sea on a magical boat made of a skeleton to rescue him. She is guided by a talking scholar’s cat (and soon crows, goats, and other animals all have their say, too). On this journey Aisha meets three terrifying sea monsters." (Graywolf Press) Khadija Abdallah Bajaber's, THE HOUSE OF RUST, is proof of that the fantasy genre has a future in Kenyan literature.
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Pwani Tribune – Passion for Coastal Culture and History Interview with/mit Albert Mwamburi engl/ger
I recognize the need of bringing these other Coastal cultures to prominence. The kind of prominence that Swahili culture enjoys. And there’s actually so much to write about them. When you mention that the Swahili historical evidence is readily available, I would like to bring to your attention that there are also some caves in Taita Taveta County that very few Kenyans know about. These are the kinds of things I strive to highlight.
