Binyavanga Wainaina was a Kenyan writer, journalist and activist born in Nakuru (Kenya) in 1971. Born to a Kenyan middle-class family from a Kenyan father and a Ugandan mother, Binyavanga Wainaina grew up in Nakuru, in the Rift Valley Province. He attended Moi Primary School in Nakuru, Mangu High School in Thika, and Lenana School in Nairobi. In 1990, he left Kenya for South Africa, where he studied commerce at the University of Transkei. He returned to Nairobi in the early 2000s, before leaving for the United States where he became the Sterling Brown Guest Professor at Williams College in 2008. From 2008 to 2012 he was appointed director of the Chinua Achebe Centre for African Writers and Artists in Bard College, New York. He remained in this post until 2013, when he decided to return to Kenya.
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Citation: Journo, Aurélie. "Binyavanga Wainaina". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 November 2016; last revised 08 May 2025. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13751, accessed 14 December 2025.]
