Alert! Cape-Town based Nikhil Singh’s debut novel Taty Went West is being launched as part of the 2015 Kwani? Litfest, taking place in Nairobi, Kenya from 1 to 6 December.
Taty Went West, which was longlisted for the 2013 Kwani? Manuscript Project, is described by Lauren Beukes as “a hallucinogenic post-apocalyptic carnival ride”.
The novel is the first to be published by Kwani Trust that blurs and crosses the boundaries of genre and literary fiction, and also the first novel it has published from South Africa.
Singh was recently hosted by Kwani Trust in Nairobi for the opening of the Goethe-Institut’s African Futures Festival, where he appeared in conversation with Zukiswa Wanner alongside Tony Mochama, Richard Oduor Oduku, Awuor Onyango and Karsten Kruschel.
While in Kenya, Singh spoke to The Star about his creative projects, the 13 books he is writing at once, and re-imagining the heroines of sci-fi:
One of the thing that irritated the hell out me with the sci-fi I watched was that they all came with a male protagonist who is very similar to the others, in a formulaic thing that kinda works. You do not really get female characters in science fiction, that were not over-sexualised. For me, I am much more about the concept of gender fluidity in terms of the stereotypes of gender, which at the end of the day break into social perceptions. Another thing they do in sci-fi and fantasy is trying to push a masculine stereotype that says force is equal to strength, whereas it isn’t.
I really wanted a real girl, someone not so outstanding.
Billy Kahora, managing editor of Kwani Trust, says: “At a time when the African story is undergoing a renaissance through the blurring of literary and genre fiction, Kwani Trust is delighted to be part of bringing Taty – a new kind of literary African heroine – into the world.
“Savvy, ultra-modern, Taty straddles the mediated realities of our own continent and the groundbreaking possibilities of our ongoing universal imaginaries.
“With chapter heading illustrations that match the beauty and imagination of its prose, Nikhil Singh’s Taty Went West is exactly the kind of boundary shifting novel that Kwani Trust has been looking for to build its literary fiction list.”
Taty Went West is published in paperback with 50 illustrations and priced at KSh 1200 (about R170). It is available in bookshops across Nairobi and to order at Kwani.
About the book
Taty is a troubled adolescent living with her equally troubled mother in the suburbs of the Lowlands. In a moment of uncontrolled anger she finds her life changed forever and, hiding a terrible secret, she becomes a runaway, heading West into the Outzone. When she is captured by a malicious imp, befriended by an evangelising robotic nun and wooed by a transgender hoodlum, it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary adventure story.
With moustachioed wrestlers, marauding Buddhist Punks, a feline voodoo surgeon and the enigmatic presence of the disfigured Dr Dali, Nikhil Singh has created a unique universe and a heroine whose petulant nonchalance hides a mighty spirit. As Taty navigates the collapse of an already chaotic society, struggling against present danger while confronting the demons of her own past, her story is narrated in prose that soars with elegance and swagger in equal measure. Taty Went West is an introduction to an electrifying new talent – an imagination unfettered by any known convention.
About the author
Nikhil Singh is a Cape Town based artist, writer, musician and filmmaker. He has fronted the critically acclaimed South African art-rock bands The Wild Eyes and Hi Spider, as well as a plethora of solo albums under the moniker “Witchboy” (released on Aural Sects). He has illustrated graphic novels: The Ziggurat (Bell Roberts 2003) by The Constructus Corporation (part of which evolved into Die Antwoord) and Salem Brownstone with writer John Harris Dunning (Walker Books 2009). His short fiction has been published by Jungle Jim and Chimurenga. Taty Went West is his first novel and was longlisted for the Kwani? Manuscript Project.
About the Kwani? Manuscript Project
The Kwani? Manuscript Project was launched in April 2012 and called for the submission of unpublished novel manuscripts from African writers across the continent and in the diaspora. The prize received over 280 qualifying submissions from 19 African countries. Nikhil Singh’s Taty Went West was identified by Kwani? as one of the most exciting manuscripts submitted for the prize from a longlist of 30.
The winners were selected by a high-profile panel of judges chaired by award-winning Sudanese novelist Jamal Mahjoub and including former deputy editor of Granta magazine Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, leading scholar of African literature Professor Simon Gikandi, Chairman of Kenyatta University’s Literature Department Dr Mbugua wa Mungai, editor of Zimbabwe’s Weaver Press Irene Staunton and internationally renowned Nigerian writer Helon Habila.
Taty Went West is the third novel to be published in the Kwani? Manuscript Project series, following Boy, Interrupted by Saah Millimono (February 2015) and Jennifer Makumbi’s Kintu (June 2014). eBook editions of the first two novels in the series will also be launched at 2015 Kwani? Litfest.
Allfrey has worked closely with each of the writers to develop and fulfill the literary promise the prize identified in their writing. Kwani Trust plans to publish three further novels coming out of the Kwani? Manuscript Project in 2016.
The Kwani? Manuscript Project has been made possible with the support of Ford Foundation, Lambent Foundation, Commonwealth Writers and Stichting Doen. The project was initiated by the Prince Claus Award to Kwani Trust in 2010.
About 2015 Kwani? Litfest
The fifth edition of Kwani? Litfest, a biennial gathering of writers, artists and thinkers from across Africa, takes place from 1 – 6 December, 2015. This year’s literary festival, Beyond the Map of English: Writers in conversation on Language, hosts readings, performances and discussions that explore issues of language and how this relates to African experiences and writing on the continent. Confirmed participants include Nuruddin Farah, Taiye Selasi, Boris Boubacar Diop, Yvonne Adhiambo Owour, Wu Ming, Prof. Aldin Mutembei, FOKN Bois and Siphiwo Mahala.
For further information about 2015 Kwani? Litfest see kwanilitfest.tumblr.com
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Author image courtesy of Sarah Such Literary Agency