{"product_id":"birth-of-a-dream-weaver-a-writers-awakening-9781620972403","title":"Birth of a Dream Weaver: A Writer's Awakening","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBirth of a Dream Weaver\u003c\/i\u003e charts the very beginnings of a writer’s creative output. In this wonderful memoir, Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o recounts the four years he spent in Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda—threshold years where he found his voice as a playwright, journalist, and novelist, just as Uganda, Kenya, Congo, and other countries were in the final throes of their independence struggles.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eJames Ngugi, as he was known then, is haunted by the emergency period of the previous decade in Kenya, when his friends and relatives were killed during the Mau Mau Rebellion. He is also haunted by the experience of his childhood in a polygamous family and the brave break his mother made from his father’s home. Accompanied by these ghosts, Ngugi begins to weave stories from the fibers of memory, history, and a shockingly vibrant and turbulent present.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWhat unfolds in this moving and thought-provoking memoir is both the birth of one of the most important living writers—lauded for his “epic imagination” (\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e)—and the death of one of the most violent episodes in global history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eBirth of a Dream Weaver\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eOprah.com\u003c\/i\u003e's \"17 Must-Read Books for the New Year\" and \u003ci\u003eO\u003c\/i\u003e Magazine's \"10 Titles to Pick up Now.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Exquisite in its honesty and truth and resilience, and a necessary chronicle from one of the greatest writers of our time. ”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, Best Books of 2016.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"It’s hard to think of another living writer today — Orhan Pamuk, perhaps — who speaks so inspiringly and convincingly about the value of literature. No serious reader will want to miss this riveting story.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“An eloquent, perceptive memoir. . . Evocative, poignant, and thoughtful, Thiong’o’s courageous narrative will linger in readers’ minds.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A writer's coming-of-age tale featuring an artistic mix of pride and humility.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“An autobiographical masterpiece. . . As essential as Achebe’s There Was a Country, this is a riveting read in African history and literature.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e (starred)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"This is a powerful recollection of a turbulent time that produced leaders from Tom Mboya and Jomo Kenyatta to the tyrannical Idi Amin in response to the brutality of a dying colonialism.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003ePraise for Ngugi wa Thiong’o's work:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Evocative, poignant, and thoughtful, Thiong’o’s courageous narrative will linger in readers’ minds.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"In his crowded career and his eventful life, Ngugi has enacted, for all to see, the paradigmatic trials and quandaries of a contemporary African writer, caught in sometimes implacable political, social, racial, and linguistic currents.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—John Updike, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Ngugi has dedicated his life to describing, satirising and destabilising the corridors of power…Still living in exile and writing primarily in Gikuyu, Ngugi continues to spin captivating tales.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Ngugi has flown over the entire African continent and sniffed out all of the foul stenches rising high into the air: complacency toward despotism, repression of women and ethnic minorities, widespread corruption and—undergirding all of these—a neocolonial system in which today’s lending banks and multinationals have supplanted yesterday’s European overlords.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"The New Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49533475553623,"sku":"9781620972403","price":18.04,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781620972403.jpg?v=1731891337","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/birth-of-a-dream-weaver-a-writers-awakening-9781620972403","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}