ngugi wa thiong'o

Ngugi Wa Thiong'o will be doing a benefit reading for Revolution Books NYC @ Judson Memorial Church tomorrow night. He will be reading from his new book, Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir.

I can still remember reading The River Between in grade school. I think it was the first book that made me want to be a writer.

Such an impression he made on me that, after college at a book talk on Things Fall Apart, given by the great Chinua Achebe, I raised my hand and asked a question about Muthoni, the young girl in River who disobeys her father to have a ritual circumcision.

"I think it is Ngugi's book you are talking about," Achebe said, frowning and resettling himself in his wheelchair. I felt a fool, though I had still done something worthwhile. Had helped to remind him how we are all, no matter how great, as indistinguishable as tiny specks in God's eye.

I now have them squared away in my mind. Will try not to make the same mistake in reverse tomorrow.