raul

The world is a blurred version
of itself—
marred, lovely, and flawed.
It is enough.

-Jane Hirshfield, from ‘Autumn Quince’

Key point: chattel slavery made possible much of the economic "success" of the United States; slavery is deeply imbricated w/ the rise of US (& global) capitalism. The richest northern (New York) & southern (Mississippi) states on the US Civil War's eve became so largely thanks to chattel slavery.

Event poster for my Nairobi Litfest event (Ikulu Stage) The Injustice of Being Misunderstood A journalist and a memoirist discuss the power of image-making in countering prevailing misconceptions and stereotypes about Africa. Dipo Faloyin is the author of Africa Is Not A Country. Cameroonian author and human rights activist Sani Ladan's memoir, La luna está en Duala: Y mi destino en el conocimiento (The Moon is in Douala: And My Destiny in Knowledge) outlines his experience with migration and geopolitics. Panellists: Dipo Faloyin, Sani Ladan Moderator: Nyambura Mutanyi Saturday, 28th June 12:00pm - 1:00pm Eastlands Library Buy Ticket KES 300 Sponsor logos at the bottom from left to right: Open Society Foundations, British Council & The Africa Centre : UK/ Kenya Season 2025, Afrexim Bank, Ford Foundation, Hawthornden Fiundation, Nairobi City County, Book Bunk & Hay Festival Global

What’s the cost of being misrepresented?

Dipo Faloyin joins Sani Ladan in conversation on image-making, identity, and the politics of perception on 28th June at 12:00pm at the Eastlands Library

Moderated by yours truly & supported by Acción Cultural AC/E

link: bit.ly/43NLdQ9

I had a conversation with Sera na Sauti podcast about my essay: seranasauti.substack.com/p/the-missin...

Copy of the novel Moby Dick at the beach, whales are just out of frame beneath the sea

Reading Moby Dick and shaking my head the whole time so the whales near the beach know I disagree with it.

Please help me get employed!

Post from 100 on Books (author of I Know You Think This Newsletter Is About books) ISO: A job in communications. I have over 10 years' experience and have worked both in corporate and non-profit spaces. I'm great at strategic communication, meeting facilitation, communication for good, and much more besides. I also make podcasts if you're looking to expand your organisation's offering! I'm based in Nairobi, Kenya and happy to work remote (I have worked with organisations in time zones across the Americas, up to Pacific Time). You can find my LinkedIn profile here: linkedin.com/in/cmutanyi I'd love to get feedback on my LinkedIn profile as well leads on jobs. You can DM me here or email 100onbooks at gmail

I'm in the throes of job-hunting and would appreciate your help.

Please send me any and all job ads; I'm location-agnostic and have experience working across time zones.

Please share widely! Thanks!

#JobHunting #CommsJobs #IkoKaziKE

A book containing six of Leo Tolstoy's shorter fiction and a copy of The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James. Both library loans.

Got these from the library and can't wait to read them

Encroachment To mean: a gradual advance beyond usual or acceptable limits.

Officially substacking now.
A couple of my thoughts about the way jobs encroach into our personal lives.
singano.substack.com/p/encroachment

A literal angel amongst us

The poem "The Wild Swans At Coole" by W.B. Yeats

The final stanza of "The Wild Swans At Coole"

Read this particular poem early this morning and it still reverberates

Library copies of Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats by W.B. Yeats and Omeros by Derek Walcott

Got these two from the school library before it closed. Started reading the Yeats (which is marvelous), and look forward to reading Omeros.

Update: We got two mums out of Langata Women's Prison and were able to give them transport funds and some Christmas money.

We wouldn’t have done it without you.

Thank you so very much & happy holidays ✨

Modern Poetry in Translation Modern Poetry in Translation is a tri-annual poetry magazine edited by Sasha Dugdale that publishes poetry from all over the world in English translation. Founded in 1965 by Ted Hughes and Daniel Weis...

I see that for the next 3 weeks, MODERN POETRY IN TRANSLATION is making their full archives freely available to all: well worth your time!
Many of their issues are language/country-specific, real treasure troves.
ocean.exacteditions.com/magazines/58...

Poster with white background with pink and green gift boxes with bows in those colours. Above the boxes, it reads "Nairobi Bail Fund" Below the boxes, it reads: HELP US GET MUMS HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!! ALL MONEY SENT TO THE FUND WILL PAY BAIL & FINES FOR MUMS IN PRISON M-PESA: 0714984673 | paypal.me/cmutanyi Please text a note when you send a donation to +254714984673

Good morning!

Want to round out the weekend with a good deed? Please contribute to the bail fund so we can free some mums in time for the holidays 🎄🎁✨

Also plan to finish In Search of Lost Time (1.5 books away from doing this), Doris Lessing's Children of Violence series, and finally reading Tales of Genji

When I finally finish reading all of Toni Morrison's published fiction next year (left with Home and A Mercy), I plan to finish Jamaica Kincaid's as well (left with Mr. Potter and See Now Then)

It's 5 days till Christmas --- help us get some mums home for the holidays!

M-PESA: 0714984673
paypal.me/cmutanyi

Please email a note to 100onbooks@gmail.com or text/WhatsApp the M-PESA number when you send your donation.

Thank you!

a woman in a red dress is sitting on a couch in front of a dr phil sign . Alt: A Black girl in a red dress chuckling and pushing her hair from her face while on the Dr. Phil show.

I might just beat this deadline

Poster with white background with pink and green gift boxes with bows in those colours. Above the boxes, it reads "Nairobi Bail Fund" Below the boxes, it reads: HELP US GET MUMS HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!! ALL MONEY SENT TO THE FUND WILL PAY BAIL & FINES FOR MUMS IN PRISON M-PESA: 0714984673 | paypal.me/cmutanyi Please text a note when you send a donation to +254714984673

It's 6 days till Christmas --- help us get some mums home for the holidays!

M-PESA: 0714984673
paypal.me/cmutanyi

Please email a note to 100onbooks@gmail.com or text/WhatsApp the M-PESA number when you send your donation.

Thank you!

Roy Haynes, a Giant of Jazz Drumming, Is Dead at 99 An irrepressible force who remained relevant over the course of a seven-decade career, he had a hand in every major development in modern jazz.

Roy Haynes, a Giant of Jazz Drumming, Is Dead at 99

An irrepressible force who remained relevant over the course of a seven-decade career, he had a hand in every major development in modern jazz.
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/a...

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow Roberta Flack · Quiet Fire · Song · 1971

Such a pretty cover of this song

open.spotify.com/track/6n5647...

I'm so sorry!

The poem, the picture, the song is only water drawn from the well of the people and given back to them in a cup of beauty so that they may drink—and in drinking, understand themselves.

Langston Hughes, from a radio speech, Madrid, 1937