Charles Mangua is a Kenyan fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

. His novels explore, among other issues, the "hardship and urban poverty" experienced by ordinary people in places such as Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

, the capital of Kenya.Sobania, N. 2003, Culture and Customs of Kenya, Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, CT, pp. 74-75.

Mangua's style is irreverent and often humorous. His early works, Son of Woman (1971) and A Tail in the Mouth (1972), sold more copies than any previous works of literature published in East Africa. His work had an influence on other Kenyan writers and he was awarded the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature

Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature

Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature is a literary award given by the Kenya Publishers' Association. The first award was in 1974, however due to financial constraints it was unable to continue...

for A Tail in the Mouth.

External links

• Charles Mangua author page at Michigan State University Press.