By Wanjiku Mwaurah
I was overjoyed when I read on my timeline that Okwiri won the Caine Prize.
Not just because it’s a prestigious prize, far from it. I felt proud. The kind of pride you can only feel if you have known someone for a little longer than that initial moment of realizing they have won something huge. It’s the kind of pride that stems from countless encounters you have enjoyed in their presence and the countless ideas that have floated around you. It’s the pride that is deep-seated, which is why I write this now. Because even after it’s out I will still feel this pride.
It’s the kind of pride of knowing that just a few weeks before the big announcement; this winner of the Caine Prize had given me a pencil and saved me a walk to the supermarket to get my own.
Okwiri is not only a talented and hardworking writer as you can tell from her story, she also is a wonderful human being. Memorably so, I can remember the first time I got to encounter Paulo Coelho, she made it happen, in a book of course, and thereafter we talked about his writing style and the themes that he brought out in his book Brida. We talked about other things too, we explored life and we experienced it too.
Sometime after Brida; I saw her re-furnish her Swahili, she read purely Swahili literature, spoke the language in an unadulterated manner that made it a joy to listen to, but a pain to speak because, you know what they say, practice makes perfect and my Swahili was barely surviving within me. She told me her reason of doing it, was for her to enjoy the beauty in the language that we easily cast away and contort in speech with shreds of other languages that veil the beauty of Swahili. She spoke her reasons with so much passion and conviction -as she does with her opinions. This diligence was to pay off as she got to work as part of the core writing team of the Spielwork’s show Sumu La Penzi.
This is the thing that strikes me about her to-date, since those many years ago when we met at a literary festival, she has always known how to sieve through the public opinions, the drama, her thoughts – the ones she made known to me in the brief but intense moments we have interacted. She has always kept her head over the water. She decides to do something and goes through with it. From her Swahili to the stories within her, to publishing a book The Dream Chasers while still in school to the new language she is currently learning. She remains true to herself.
Her nomination and win in the Caine Prize is proof of the streak she has had of diligently working towards improving her writing and personal development. She allows her creative juices to flow beyond her screen and page to her outfits and accessories; ingeniously crafting earrings from buttons and recycling fabric creating new designs. You can see her efforts are wholesome. She doesn’t hold back her creativity. She shares it in many more elements that just her words.
Owkiri’s calm and graceful poise tells of the depth of her being. It gives me immense pleasure to look at her now and see how much more she is heading towards. I am most appreciative of the instances I have been fortunate enough to work with her here at Spielworks as a script writer. I wish her nothing but the best following her win.
You can listen to an interview that Okwiri participated in for BBC Radio 4 by clicking here.
If you are interested in reading the award winning piece, My Father’s Head, click here.