Age, Biography and Wiki

Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenneth Wainaina) was born on 18 January, 1971 in Nakuru, Kenya, is a Kenyan writer and editor (1971–2019). Discover Binyavanga Wainaina's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 48 years old?

Popular As Kenneth Wainaina
Occupation Memoirist, short-story writer, editor
Age 48 years old
Zodiac Sign Capricorn
Born 18 January 1971
Birthday 18 January
Birthplace Nakuru, Kenya
Date of death 21 May, 2019
Died Place Nairobi, Kenya
Nationality Kenya

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 18 January. He is a member of famous writer with the age 48 years old group.

Binyavanga Wainaina Height, Weight & Measurements

At 48 years old, Binyavanga Wainaina height not available right now. We will update Binyavanga Wainaina's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
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Dating & Relationship status

He is currently single. He is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, He has no children.

Family
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Wife Not Available
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Children Not Available

Binyavanga Wainaina Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Binyavanga Wainaina worth at the age of 48 years old? Binyavanga Wainaina’s income source is mostly from being a successful writer. He is from Kenya. We have estimated Binyavanga Wainaina's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income writer

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Timeline

1971

Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina (18 January 1971 – 21 May 2019) was a Kenyan author, journalist and 2002 winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing.

Binyavanga Wainaina was born on 18 January 1971 in Nakuru in Rift Valley Province, Kenya.

He attended Moi Primary School in Nakuru, Mangu High School in Thika, and Lenana School in Nairobi.

1991

He later studied commerce at the University of Transkei in South Africa, where he went to live in 1991.

2002

In July 2002 he won the Caine Prize for his short story "Discovering Home" (the judges being Ahdaf Soueif, Margaret Busby, Jason Cowley and Abdulrazak Gurnah).

Wainaina was the founding editor of Kwani?, the literary magazine in East Africa that sprung out of an artistic revolution that started in 2002.

2003

In 2003, he was the founding editor of Kwani? literary magazine.

Established in 2003, Kwani? has since become an important source of new writing from Africa; Yvonne Owuor also wrote for the magazine and won the Caine Prize in 2003.

In 2003, he was given an award by the Kenya Publishers Association for his services to Kenyan literature.

He wrote for The EastAfrican, National Geographic, The Sunday Times (South Africa), Granta, The New York Times, Chimurenga and The Guardian (UK).

2005

Wainaina's satirical essay "How to Write About Africa", published in Granta magazine in 2005, attracted wide attention.

Wainaina summed up the way Western media has reinforced stereotypes and pre-existing ideas of Africa by saying their representation was that: "One must treat Africa as if it were one country... [of] 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book."

2007

In 2007, Wainaina was a writer-in-residence at Union College in Schenectady, NY (USA).

In January 2007, Wainaina 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 subsequently declined the award.

In a letter to Klaus Schwab and Queen Rania of Jordan, he wrote:

"I assume that most, like me, are tempted to go anyway because we will get to be 'validated' and glow with the kind of self-congratulation that can only be bestowed by very globally visible and significant people, and we are also tempted to go and talk to spectacularly bright and accomplished people – our 'peers'. We will achieve Global Institutional Credibility for our work, as we have been anointed by an institution that many countries and presidents bow down to. The problem here is that I am a writer. And although, like many, I go to sleep at night fantasizing about fame, fortune and credibility, the thing that is most valuable in my trade is to try, all the time, to keep myself loose, independent and creative ... it would be an act of great fraudulence for me to accept the trite idea that I am 'going to significantly impact world affairs'."

2008

In the fall of 2008, he was in residence at Williams College, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he was teaching, lecturing and working on a novel.

He was a Bard Fellow and the director of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Literature and Languages at Bard College.

Wainaina collected more than 13,000 recipes from around Africa and was an expert on traditional and modern African cuisine.

2010

He completed an MPhil in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in 2010.

2011

His debut book, a memoir entitled One Day I Will Write About This Place, was published in 2011.

2014

In April 2014, Time magazine included Wainaina in its annual Time 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World".

In January 2014, in response to a wave of anti-gay laws passed in Africa, Wainaina publicly announced that he was gay, first writing an essay that he described as a "lost chapter" of his 2011 memoir entitled "I am a Homosexual, Mum", and then tweeting: "I am, for anybody confused or in doubt, a homosexual. Gay, and quite happy."

Following his education, Wainaina worked in Cape Town for some years as a freelance food and travel writer.

2016

On 1 December 2016, World AIDS Day, Wainaina announced on his Twitter profile that he was HIV positive, "and happy".

He had experienced several strokes since 2016.

2018

In 2018, he announced that he would be marrying his long-term partner the following year.

2019

Wainaina died, aged 48, after a stroke on the evening of 21 May 2019, at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, according to news and family sources.