Hey there London-based Brittlepaperians, here is an event we’d love you to attend.

Kenyan Novelist Peter Kimani will be in London in about a week to talk about his critically acclaimed debut novel, Dance of the Jakaranda. He will be in conversation with Fiamemetta Rocco, Culture Correspondent at The Economist.

Kimani has a distinctly beautiful writing style, which Ngugi wa Thiongo describes as having a “lyrical tenderness of poetry.” Dance of the Jakaranda was named a New York Times Notable Book of the 2018.

Don’t miss the chance to hang out with one of Africa’s most exciting new voices.

Date: Wednesday 14 March,

Time: 7pm

Venue: Waterstones Tottenham Court Road

Tickets: 3 pounds (buy HERE)

Book Synopsis:

1963. Kenya is on the verge of independence from British colonial rule. In the Great Rift Valley, Kenyans of all backgrounds come together in the previously white-only establishment of the Jakaranda Hotel. The resident musician is Rajan Salim, who charms visitors with songs inspired by his grandfather’s noble stories of the railway construction that spawned the Kenya they now know.

One evening, Rajan is kissed by a mysterious woman in a shadowy corridor. Unable to forget the taste of her lavender-flavoured lips, Rajan sets out to find her. On his journey he stumbles upon the murky, shared history of three men – his grandfather, the owner of the Jakaranda and a British preacher – who were implicated in the controversial birth of a child. What Rajan unearths will open his eyes about the birth not just of a child, but of an entire nation.