- For over a decade now, Okemwa has worked hard to promote poetry in Kenya.
- Dubbed a difficult genre or subject in Kenyan schools, his fervent activities to popularise it in public go beyond his own output.
Image: OPAL PALMER ADISA
Many Kenyans know the leading poet based at Kisii University called Christopher Okemwa. He is the holder of the 2015 Burt Award for African Literature.
In 2002, he won the Editor’s Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry presented by the International Library of Poetry. Okemwa is an ace poet with a plume of excellence on his cap.
He teaches at Kisii University. His doctorate awarded by Moi University is based on his seminal research on performance poetry at the famous live series called Kwani? Open Mic hosted by Kwani Trust founded by the late Binyavanga Wainaina.
A prodigious and prolific poet himself, Okemwa’s own full-length, poetry anthologies include: A Withering Rose, published in 2019 after which it was translated into Polish, and The Pieta. The latter was translated into Armenian in the same year.
In 2018 he had published his second anthology entitled Ominous Cloud. This one was translated into Norwegian, Greek and Finish, setting him off on the contours of international recognition that continues to date.
Okemwa started out publishing his collected poems 12 years ago with his debut, which earned early critical acclaim from many pundits, including myself. It was titled The Gong.
If there is a poet in this century in Kenya who has broken the glass ceiling with his verse in print and orality, who has stamped the mark of Kenyan aesthetics on the contemporary atlas of global poetry, his name is Okemwa. Christopher Okemwa.
Apart from teaching and penning poetry, Okemwa is a vivacious and ardent supporter of the genre, whose selfless initiatives have earned him both local and international visibility and acclaim.
In May, this year he was a visiting guest poet at a festival in honour of children’s literature. He has spoken and performed in a litany of such international events of note.
Representing our nation ably, notably so, he participated in the 20th International Poetry Festival in Medellin (Colombia). It is one of the coveted sites of poetry celebration across the globe today.
Since this premier international feature, Okemwa has appeared at the 27th Biennale Poetry Festival in Belgium 10 years ago. He was in 2018 one of the international poets at the third Spring Poetry Festival in Turkey at Istanbul also.
Three years ago it was a double whammy for the maestro of Kenyan poetry. He performed as visiting poet in Vietnam at the International Poetry Festival in Hanoi and was a guest at the Faber’s Writers Residency is Spain at Catalonia.
If there is a poet in this century in Kenya who has broken the glass ceiling with his verse in print and orality, who has stamped the mark of Kenyan aesthetics on the contemporary atlas of global poetry, his name is Okemwa. Christopher Okemwa.
The decorated scribe Okemwa captures the gist of the spirit of Huduma (Service) we are celebrating this week. The essence of October 10 in Kenya for the past four decades rests on the idea of peace, love and unity at the core of Nyayoism.
This philosophical outlook was one of the colours in the kaleidoscopic rule of the second leader of Kenya, the late Mzee Daniel Toroitich arap Moi. His chequered legacy includes October 10 that was earlier celebrated as Moi Day.
After the inauguration of the new Constitution in August 2010, Kenyans renamed the day as Huduma Day and associated it with the idea of service to society and community beyond the self. Moi did many things.
One of the positive things he did was to hearken Kenyans towards the spirit of Harambee and collective effort towards building our talented motherland, in the footsteps and words of the founding father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
Image: COURTESY
The deeds and words of Christopher Okemwa show us clearly and uniquely that out of one, many arise also.
Harambee and Nyayoism, two slogans calling for service beyond the self, are now established common denominators of October in Kenya.
It is in this context, that I invite fellow Kenyans to honor the abounding energy of Christopher Okemwa.
For over a decade now, Okemwa has worked hard to promote poetry in Kenya. Dubbed a difficult genre or subject in Kenyan schools, his fervent activities to popularise it in public go beyond his own output.
To intensify his efforts as a literacy and literary champion, in 2013, he founded, and registered with the government, the now famous Kistretch International Poetry Festival in Kenya. It aims at convening local and international poets together on one platform every year.
Kistretch 2022 edition comes to a close today having run various events from October 7. Kenyan poets such as Tony Mochama and Bonface Nyamweya presented readings alongside their foreign counterparts such as Laksmisree Banarjee of India.
Critics such as Tom Odhiambo of the University of Nairobi alongside George Nyandoro and Bwocha Nyagemi featured too. A unique evolution this year, setting it apart from preceding ones, is the impressive number of poetry anthologies launched at this wonderful poetry festival.
They include Bile of My Face (2022) by fast-rising Ruth Jepkorir and The Girl of Red Beauty (2022) by the great scribe Alfred Nyamwange
Okemwa’s own colleague at Kisii University, Dr Evans Mecha launched his anthology titled Words Between Worlds (2022) .
Americans say that theirs is a land build on a unique multicultural philosophy. Out of many, one – rendered in Latin as E Pluribus Unum.
The deeds and words of Christopher Okemwa show us clearly and uniquely that out of one, many arise also.
He is to me, without a doubt, a testimony and testament of how artists should work as voices of society and vessels for the propagation of both the Arts and new talents.
Let us emulate his spirit. Happy Huduma Weekend.