Armajit Chandan, London, United Kingdom

Amarjit Chandan (photo by Gurvinder Singh S)

It is official, on March the 14th 2009, Kenya will hold its first ever film and television awards. The mammoth event will celebrate and reward the best productions and movers in the industries. Designed to merge the American Oscars and Emmy’s, the elaborate, glamorous and exclusive red-carpet event will set the standard for future events.

The awards will be preceded by month-long partying and voting in February. It will also receive an intense marketing and publicity campaign between the months of December and March.

Come March 14th, all roads will lead only to the Kenyatta International Conference Center, the main venue. Executive limos, red carpets and stunning models will usher guests to the Savannah Ball room for an unforgettable evening. A custom-built, multi-level stage will feature performances from the hottest musicians, dancers, actors and comedians in the country. The organizers, Balozi Productions LTD are preparing a feast for the eyes with choreographed dances, an indoor fireworks display, laser light show and confetti sprays.

Film and television producers have been invited to submit their entries to the Kenya Film Commission before 22nd of December this year. The event’s brand name, board of trustees, trophy and other details will be unveiled at a press conference early next month.

Look out for more details on the event from this blog.

Source: Armajit Chandan

Mark Ford, London, United Kingdom

Mark Ford

Mark Ford was born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1962. He went to school in London, and attended Oxford university and, as a Kennedy Scholar, Harvard University. He wrote his doctorate at Oxford University on the poetry of John Ashbery, and has published widely on nineteenth- and twentieth-century American writing. From 1991-1993 he was Visiting Lecturer at Kyoto University in Japan.

He currently teaches in the English Department at University College London, where he is a Senior Lecturer. He has published two collections of poetry, Landlocked (Chatto & Windus, 1992; 1998) and Soft Sift (Faber & Faber, 2001/Harcourt Brace, 2003). He has also written a critical biography of the French poet, playwright and novelist, Raymond Roussel, Raymond Roussel and the Republic of Dreams (Faber & Faber, 2000/Cornell University Press, 2001). He is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books.

John Ashbery and Helen Vendler are among his most fervent admirers.

Source: Wikipedia

Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla, Los Angeles, California

Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla was born in Mombasa and published his first article in Viva magazine at the age of 13. He has also written for Genre, Angeleno, Detour and Details and publishes the upscale lifestyle E-zine IndulgeMagazine.com.

His claim to fame might also be the critically acclaimed book, ‘Ode to Lata‘, a book that tackled the South Asian Gay experience. The book was presented at the Between the Lines Festival in MIT in 2004 and was added to college syllabuses around the country. It was later made into a movie called The Ode. His second book, The Two Krishnas, is already garnering a lot of attention.

He co-founded the South Asian program for AIDS intervention for the Asian Pacific Aids Intervention Team in L.A. Genre magazine named him one of the Top 21 Tastemakers and “Most Important Movers and Shakers” in America in June 2007. To learn more about him, visit his website.

Moyez Gulamhussein Vassanji, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 

Moyez Gulamhussein Vassanji was born in Nairobi, Kenya and raised in Tanzania. He won a scholarship to MIT while studying at the University of Nairobi and went on to specialize in theoretical nuclear physics. From 1978-1980 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Atomic Energy of Canada, and from 1980 to 1989 he was a research associate at the University of Toronto. In 1981, Vassanji and his wife, Nurjehan Aziz, founded the Toronto South Asian Review, later renamed The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad. He published his first novel, The Gunny Sack, in 1989 and hasn’t stopped writing since. His other novels include The Assassin’s Song, and his awards include the Giller Prize, twice; the Harbourfront Festival Prize; the Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa); Bressani Prize. Order of Canada.

To learn more about his articles and him, visit his website.

Binyavanga Wainaina – Schenectady, New York

It is hard to say his name without thinking of great writing and activism. Binyavanga Wainaina (who has managed to have people say his name right without attempting to shorten it) has been awarded the 2002 Caine prize for African writing for his story, ‘Discovering Home‘. Is the founding editor of the magazine, ‘Kwani?’, and was recognized in 2003 by the Kenya Publisher’s Association for his contribution to Kenyan Literature.

He is published in the The EastAfrican, National Geographic, The Sunday Times (South Africa), Granta, the New York Times and The Guardian (UK) and was nominated by the World Economic Forum as a “Young Global Leader” – an award given to people for “their potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.” He declined the award citing that he was just a writer and not one who would significantly change the world….I disagree…there is power of change in words, and his have already made huge inroads in the attempt of people to understand what is going on in their world.

A salute to a great thinker and writer! He has made an impact to many already. Writer-in-Residence at Union College in Schenectady, NY (USA), where he is teaching, lecturing and working on a novel.