Matigari by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

About Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Matigari by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Matigari is a moral fable in which Matigari, a freedom fighter, emerges from the forest in the political dawn of post-independence Kenya. Searching for his family and a new future, he finds little has changed. He wanders through a Kenya where the poor are still oppressed, where the wealthy live behind high walls, and where asking too many questions about truth and justice gets you labelled a dangerous man. The book caused such a stir in Kenya that the then-president Daniel arap Moi reportedly issued a warrant for the arrest of "Matigari" — before realizing the wanted man was a fictional character. Ngũgĩ then had the book immediately banned. Written in Gikuyu and translated by the author, it is a deceptively simple story with profound political resonance about the unfinished business of African liberation.