M\u0169koma wa Ng\u0169g\u0129 was born in 1971 in Evanston, Illinois, the son of renowned Kenyan writer Ng\u0169g\u0129 wa Thiong\u2019o. Growing up in Kenya, he later returned to the USA where he studied political science at Albright College and creative writing at Boston University before graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ng\u0169g\u0129 is currently an assistant professor at prestigious Cornell University. He is also a coordinator for the organisation \u00bbToward an Africa without Borders\u00ab.His 2003 book \u00bbConversing with Africa\u00ab analyses the dilemmas of the African continent, from poverty and despotism to the restrictions of the World Bank and the IMF; both lucid and polemical, it illustrates the desperate need for communal, overarching solutions. With impressive poetic imagery and characters, \u00bbHurling Words at Consciousness\u00ab (2006) is a book of poetry which contrasts social injustice with close observation of everyday American life. \u00bbNairobi Heat\u00ab (2008), meanwhile, reads like an African variation on the hardboiled detective story, as fast-paced as it is stylistically assured. In the character of the detective Ishmael Fofona, Ng\u0169g\u0129 introduces a sophisticated narrator whose multicultural identity lends this politically charged whodunit a unique perspective. From Wisconsin to Nairobi he investigates a murder case whose background appears to lie in the Rwandan genocide. The sequel, \u00bbBlack Star Nairobi\u00ab (2013), begins in December 2007 when the Kenyan presidential elections are overshadowed by violence between ethnic groups. A mysterious death is apparently connected to a hotel bombing; meanwhile, the perspective keeps shifting back to that other continent, where Barack Obama is battling for votes. Once again Ng\u0169g\u0129 manages to view political power relationships and post-colonial racism through the prism of a familiar genre in a way that is both individual and topical. As a columnist, Ng\u0169g\u0129 has written articles for the magazine \u00bbBBC Focus on Africa\u00ab. He has also served as editor of \u00bbPambazuka News\u00ab, a pan-African email newsletter with a marked commitment to social justice and human rights which provides information on current political events. His political essays and columns have appeared in such publications as \u00bbThe Guardian\u00ab, \u00bbLos Angeles Times\u00ab, \u00bbInternational Herald Tribune\u00ab, \u00bbRadical History Review\u00ab, \u00bbSouth African Labour Bulletin\u00ab, \u00bbBlack Commentator\u00ab as well as the Kenyan daily newspapers \u00bbThe East African\u00ab and \u00bbDaily Nation\u00ab. His poems and short stories have appeared in journals like \u00bbTin House\u00ab, \u00bbKwani?\u00ab, \u00bbKenyon Review\u00ab, \u00bbBrick\u00ab, \u00bbNew York Quarterly\u00ab, \u00bbSt. Petersburg Review\u00ab and \u00bbChimurenga\u00ab. Ng\u0169g\u0129 lives in Norwalk, Connecticut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11602,"template":"","jct-role":[1080],"jct-origin":[557,339,657],"jct-ilb-years":[608,612],"class_list":["post-40793","authors","type-authors","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","jct-role-author","jct-origin-kenya","jct-origin-usa","jct-origin-usa-en","jct-ilb-years-2014-en","jct-ilb-years-2018-en"],"yoast_head":"\n