The Beginning

The year is 1976. It is my first year as Managing Director at the Nairobi office of Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. Before me is a rather voluminous script which has come from James Currey of the London Head Office for a critical assessment. It is written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, an established Kenyan writer who, only four years ago, had been my literature teacher at the University of Nairobi. The previous year, I had made my first professional contact with him, and had played a pivotal role in the publishing of his play, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, co-authored with Mĩcere Mũgo. London had rejected it for publication in the African Writers Series insisting that their policy was to publish collections rather than single plays. I had decided to publish it in Nairobi, the first of many other notable plays to be published by Heinemann Nairobi, now East African Educational Publishers Ltd (EAEP).

But I could have started this story in the late 1960s when Ngũgĩ was my lecturer in the Department of Literature at the University of Nairobi. I was a good student and had no problem socializing with him in and outside the classroom. I visited his rural home in Limuru a couple of times where, on one occasion, I had a brand-new experience—drinking muratina (traditional Gĩkũyũ beer) from a horn! In my third year I decided, for my dissertation, to write on the subject of ‘guilt and betrayal’ in Ngũgĩ's A Grain of Wheat. Ngũgĩ was not my supervisor but, through regular contact with him, I was able to gather important information and insights into the man and his works. I continued to visit and socialize with him even after l left the university. Indeed, Ngũgĩ was one of the conspirators, along with Prof Andrew Gurr, who landed me in a ‘temporary’ job at Heinemann Nairobi, and where I would shortly emerge as his publisher.

Petals of Blood: The Turning Point in Our Relationship

Back to the Ngũgĩ manuscript, which seemed then to go by a number of titles, including ‘Wrestling with God’. I sent a detailed and comprehensive report to James Currey, who, upon reading it lifted the editorial veil, revealed my identity to Ngũgĩ and requested that both of us work closely together in the revision process.