Author and journalist, he was born in Nakuru, Kenya, in 1971. He studied Commerce at South Africa´s University of Transkei, and he then moved to Cape Town where he worked for several years as a food and travel critic.

In July of 2002 he received the Caine African Literature Award for his story titled Discovering Home. He is also the author of How to Write About Africa, a popular satirical article that discusses common clichés and prejudices when writing about the African continent.

He is the director and founder of Kwani?, a literary magazine that has become one of Kenya´s most prolific artistic platforms and he frequently writes for The Mail & Guardian, South Africa´s leading digital newspaper. He has also written for The East African, National Geographic, The Sunday Times (South Africa), Granta, The New York Times and The Guardian (United Kingdom).

In 2007, he was a resident writer at Union College in Schenectady, New York. In the fall of 2008, he was at William College where he taught creative writing classes while working on a novel. He is currently the director of the Chinua Achebe Centre for African languages and literature.

Sources:

• Casa África

• The writer´s personal website

Additional information:

• The writer´s profile in the BBC website

• Satire written by Binyavanga for Granta magazine

• Kwani? magazine

• Africalls?, an audiovisual journey through contemporary African art

• Consult the availability of records at the Casa África Media Library