THE NOVELIST FEATURE STORY

Moi University Press Club, The 3rd Eye
November 20
CAMPUS PERSONALITIES

By Simon Gichimu

Unknown to many, there is a comrade somewhere busy scribbling on the papers recording creatively and commenting on our social trends. James Kahonge aka ‘Nkurunziza’, as the pseudonym goes, is a 3rd year student of Linguistics, Media and Communication. Unlike the claim that good writers are not great orators, his speech is impeccable, a real literal linguist in speech and pen.

A strong basis as a library prefect and an ardent member of his High School Press Club made the budding writer who he is and aspires to be. To be a novelist, you have to be a reader. Nkurunziza first read “Norah Lofts' Out of This Nettle” which talks of teenage-hood challenges, slave trade and family wrangles. He never looked back and reading and writing found a place in the short brown scribe's heart and soul.

The year 2006 marked the journey to active writing of articles to the mainstream media as a Daily Nation correspondent; and in 2012 “The Crumbled Pie”, his first novel, was conceived. The novel which talks about the intrigues and the day to day challenges of varsity life was never meant to be a one-time thing. It was followed by “The Vigilante Cop” which is a story of a moralistic cop who violates the normalcy of police bribes and cooperation with crimes and gets fired. He then practices private law and stops dirty missions of the 'good’ law enforcers.

“Raising Monica”, the third title to his list of novels talks on the difficulties of single parenthood, where Angie dies leaving Monica in the care of her dad who balances on work and fatherhood which involves counselling the daughter. “My Life in The Media” is the fourth title he is working on.

An embracer of the new technology, blogging is his next of kin. His blog website :
crumbledpie.wordpress.com and jameskahongeh on google+ are the homes of his artistic expressions.
A heavy reader, Agatha Christie's “Secret Adversary”, Arthur Conan Doyle's “A Study in Scarlet” are his best mystery books. Chimamada Adichie's “Half of AYellow Sun”, “Minister's Daughter” and John Kiriamiti's “Sinister Trophy” are his best African reads.

Striking a balance between reading, writing and studies is a mastery of time management he enjoys. Writing is an all-time endeavour as reading takes him to the wee hours of the night. For this young novelist, attending lecturers is mandatory. He insists that people should not neglect academics for their hobbies but rather should incorporate the two. He argues that challenges in publishing and the cliché of poor readership in Kenya remains dominant.

His advise to upcoming writers? "Be passionate about writing! Complain less, strive more!”