Telugu translation of Kenyan writer’s book launched

The Telugu version of Kenya-born author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Dreams in a Time ofWar was launched in the city on Sunday evening. Translated by G.N. Saibaba, the book is titled Yuddakalamlo Swapnalu- Balya Gnapakaalu.

Hyderabad-based academic Susie Tharu released the book, which was written by Mr. Ngũgĩ in a Kenyan prison and translated by Mr. Saibaba in Nagpur Central Jail. Mr. Ngũgĩ, who now lives in exile in California, has been on a book tour in India for the past few days, having toured Bengaluru and Kolkata before landing in Hyderabad.

“Youth should free their imagination. Dictators try to curtail imagination. Only imagination can keep you free,” said Mr. Ngũgĩ, while narrating his experiences, which have been chronicled in his novels and plays.

“He was the brightest student in our class. We used to wait to listen to the question he would ask in the class,” said Ms. Tharu, who was a junior of Mr. Ngũgĩ at Makerere University in Uganda in the 60s. Ms. Tharu played the woman protagonist in The Black Hermit, the first play written by Mr. Ngugi.