Jomo Kenyatta (1891-1978)
Kenya’s most prestigious literature award is named after Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya from 1963 till his passing in 1978 whose son, Uhuru Kenyatta is the fourth and current president of Kenya.
Jomo Kenyatta’s first and most famous book is Facing Mount Kenya, which was published in 1938. The first novel of this intellectual author of several books was ‘an anthropological study of the people of Kikuyu ethnicity from central Kenya.’ In 1968, a biography on the late president, Suffering Without Bitterness, was published.
