It is one of the hundreds of books on the shelves within the living room that he shares with African sculptures, family photos, a vase with fresh flowers from his garden, and dozens of manuscripts including one on witchcraft.<\/p>\n
We would then spend the first 20 minutes of our interview discussing the intrigues within the monarchy that forced Harry to go into \u2018exile\u2019, the semblance between his (Maillu\u2019s) late wife and the late Queen Elizabeth II, and King Charles\u2019 visit to Kenya.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to find out if the death of Princess Diana was planned. Was the suspicion correct?\u201d<\/p>\n
The 409 pages of ‘Spare’ did not provide him with an answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyway, there is no creativity in his writing. He is just telling his own story.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Maillu goes down the writing and publishing route, it is a difficult task reeling him in once again to the main topic of discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, what did you want to discuss with me?\u201d he asks as we sip some African tea. That question, coming 30 minutes after his \u2018introductory\u2019 remarks created a momentary, blank stare between us. Locking eyes with the author with perhaps the longest list of published books in Africa is bound to throw anyone off course.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s discuss books. Family. Everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything?\u201d he moves to a seat closer to where I am seated. \u201cBut you media people are afraid to write everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
He takes no prisoners. He suffers no fools. No subject is beyond him.<\/p>\n
Few local authors have been as controversial as Maillu who is accused of putting heavy sexual overtones in his writings. A number of his books have created literacy storms, notably; ‘After 4.30’ and ‘My Dear Bottle’. The never-ending perception about his works still surprises him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat book (After 4.30) did very well in readership numbers, maybe not in sales,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would have three copies in the same house. It would be read by the husband, the wife, and the son or daughter, but each of them had no clue the other family members had a copy. In school, a teacher would angrily confiscate the book from the pupils only for him to go read it in the staffroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
The book, he says, was meant to warn rural girls streaming into the city to be wary of those who would take advantage of them. \u201cOthers saw vulgarity,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Then there is ‘My Dear Bottle’, a book he published in 1973 as a sort of lamentation by a man who takes to the bottle to vent his frustrations with the government.<\/p>\n
Maillu writes about the ravages of the bottle, the very opposite of his personality since Maillu has never taken a sip of alcohol.<\/p>\n
Authorities were not amused by the tirades and suppressed his publishing house, Comb Books in 1978. \u201cBut I never ran away like others,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are the others,\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know them. Some are dying in Western countries while others are seriously sick. If they ran away due to political intrigues, why can\u2019t they come back now. Why are they perpetuating the same imperialism they so opposed at home?\u201d<\/p>\n
His criticism is partly directed at Ngugi wa Thiong\u2019o, another prolific writer, but who Maillu says hardly credited him (Maillu) for encouraging him to write in vernacular.<\/p>\n
In the late 1960s, Maillu used to read Kikamba poems on radio and remembers Ngugi asking him how people reacted to the poems read in vernacular.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked him, \u2018you keep on writing in English, when will your mother read what you write\u2019? By 1972 I had already published part of my poetry in Kikamba, ‘Ki Kyambonie’, meaning, what happened to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Ngugi began writing ‘Ngaahika Ndeenda’, but wouldn\u2019t tell me what he was working on. He would only say \u2018I am working on something\u2019. He was trying to follow what I was doing. He is not the first one to write in vernacular,\u201d says Maillu.<\/p>\n
Those who have never met Maillu might conceive the picture of a man with rough edges looking for controversy at every corner. However, the 84-year-old has had his vulnerable moments too.<\/p>\n
He has had personal losses, the biggest being the death of his wife of 50 years, Hannelore, in 2020.<\/p>\n
Hannelore, a German, came to Kenya in 1967 after she was posted here by a Christian organization. Maillu was then working for the national broadcaster, Voice of Kenya, now KBC.<\/p>\n
Not one to beat about the bush, Maillu walked up to the lady and told her he would like to marry her\u2014at a time the nationalistic fervor was at fever pitch and when such mixed relationships were frowned upon.<\/p>\n
Powers beyond him, he says, were behind his marriage to the white woman, with the self-proclaimed \u2018diviner\u2019 adding he had what he called a prophetic dream about the union.<\/p>\n
In 1957, as a barefoot-walking Class Seven pupil in Ukambani, Maillu says he had a dream where he was married to a white woman. He told the dream to his family members who got very frantic because a white person was viewed as a god in the locality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had another dream and another. In one dream I was with Queen Elizabeth, her husband and daughter, Princess Anne. I told the Queen \u2018Can I take your daughter for a walk\u2019? She told me to go ahead, and I took her home. Of course, I woke up in Ukambani with no princess,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
His dream of marrying a white woman came true in 1970, not the Queen\u2019s daughter though, \u201cbut one who actually resembled Queen Elizabeth herself\u201d. We move to a collage on his wall where mugshots of the Queen and Maillu\u2019s wife are interspersed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the Queen Elizabeth, and this is my wife,\u201d he points. \u201cAnd here too. I look at a face here and I don\u2019t know if I am looking at my wife or the Queen. By the way, my mother-in-law is called Elizabeth. Some will say it is a coincidence. Is life predestined or what do you call that?\u201d<\/p>\n
They have a daughter, Kavuli, from that union.<\/p>\n
Maillu forges lasting unions and has kept the same nanny for 49 years, a lady who came to babysit their daughter almost 50 years ago and who now lives in Kibra with her grandchildren.<\/p>\n
And even with close to 140 unpublished manuscripts, Maillu is not about to ditch the pen. He is working on a novel, ‘The Pointman at Dukahola’, a play on words looking at how religion is manipulated to create societal havoc after the Shakahola debacle.<\/p>\n
While he has an aversion for modern religion, he was once a saved boy and a member of the Salvation Army Church in Kola, Machakos.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was about 12 and feared going to hell. For the first name I chose the Biblical character David because he was a poet. I am a poet. He was a musician. I am a musician. He was a king. I haven\u2019t got that one yet,\u201d he says, alluding to his entry into politics in 1997, 2002, and 2007.<\/p>\n
Now in his twilight years, his mind is still sharp and with the physical agility of a teen. It is obvious we are yet to hear the last from this African literacy icon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At his home in Nairobi\u2019s Langata Estate, Nairobi, David Maillu holds a copy of Prince Harry\u2019s memoir, ‘Spare’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":37438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,12],"tags":[7,30,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-37441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-entertainment","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-entertainment"},"yoast_head":"\n