Connections

Three by the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. Gill Schierhout (left) is so humble one almost forgot that her debut novel 'The Shape of Him' was on the 2010 shortlist for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region). Plus there's her shortlisting for the 2008 Caine Prize for her short story The Day of the Surgical Colloquium. Mamle (middle) I've talked about in related posts. Then there's me (right).

Ovo Adagha (left) and I worked on the One World Anthology together; he now lives in the UK. Clifford Oluoch has published several books for children; and Nick Elam is famously of the Caine Prize, of course.

Caine Workshop participants by the Great Rift Valley. Samuel Munene works with The Kwani Trust in Nairobi; Valerie Tagwira currently lives in Britain while her fellow Zimbabwean, Novuyo Tshuma, is based in South Africa.

Sammy and Ignatius, nice guys

Here in the middle is Sammy, one of the key officers on the Gallmann Memorial Foundation conservancy. Here he's flanked by Mamle Kabu and MW. The amiable Sammy was a lovely presence at Ol Ari Nyiro, attending to the participants' needs with good humour. We in turn made him into an avid reader of our writings; he read many of our draft stories and engaged with the themes therein.

Sammy's here flanked by Mamle Kabu and Jude Dibia. Kabu who lives in Accra, was shortlisted for the 2009 Caine Prize for her short story, The End of Skill. Dibia is the author of two novels, Walking With Shadows and Unbridled. The pavillion in this photo was one of the best spots for internet reception this end of the resort.

Ignatius (seen here with Nick Elam) also works at the resort, acting as guide on game drives and providing lots of invaluable service and advice with equanimity. He gave a wonderful lesson in astronomy under the stars one night.

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