Escape Into the Kenyan Wild and Find Fresh Inspiration, Fame, and Money
European and American writers and would-be writers have been doing it for years. And they have unfailingly found “something of value”.
If you are a struggling writer-or even an established one – and you have run short of inspiration, don’t just sit there biting your pen. Follow the example of the great writers who found fresh inspiration, fame and money in Kenya.
Rider Haggard
H. Rider Haggard was probably unknown in his native Britain when he set sail for Africa. Going through a couple of other African countries, Rider Haggard made a stopover at Lamu at the Kenyan coast where his brother was a colonial District Commissioner. It was during this visit that he wrote his all time classic novel, King Solomon’s Mines in 1885. The book became an instant success in London where it was promoted at as an unusual adventure story.
The book tells the story of a group of adventurous Europeans who venture into unexplored regions of Africa in search of a lost brother of one of the adventurers. Allan Quartermain, the leader of the group, is firmly established as one of the great fictional characters of all time. And that is not all. Rider Haggard and his book are credited with many “firsts.”
He is credited with starting a fictional genre called “The lost World” which became so popular that hundreds of European writers and would-be writers came to Africa in search of similar stories. The book was also the first adventure story set in Africa. it went on to become the first full length movie to be filmed in Kenya.
Elspeth Huxley
In 1913, Elspeth Huxley came to Kenya as a child, accompanying her adventurous parents. The parents wanted to start a new life of riches as colonial farmers in the country. Elspeth Huxley’s famous and controversial book, The Flame Trees of Thika, tells the story of her parents and other European settler farmers in Kenya in 1913. The book has not only been a big seller, it was turned into successful TV mini series.
Karen Blixen
Karen Blixen, also known as Isak Dinesen, is probably still the best known Dutch writer. After a dreary life in her native town of Rungsted where she was born in 1885, Karen Blixen married and came to Kenya with her husband to try to make money and fame as coffee farmers. Both her marriage and coffee plantations were a disaster, but Karen Blixen went on to become one of the greatest writers of all time.
Her famous book, Out of Africa, an autobiographical work about her life in Kenya was the basis of a 1985 Hollywood Oscar award winning film also titled Out of Africa. The house, in which she lived and wrote her books a few kilometers from Nairobi city, is preserved as the Karen Blixen Museum.
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