Kinyanjui Kombani, popularly known as “''The Banker who Writes'',” is a Kenyan

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, script writer, and literature critic/activist. His novels, The Last Villains of Molo and Den of Inequities have been used for undergraduate and postgraduate education by universities in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and abroad. Kombani is also a recipient of the

Kenyatta University Kenyatta University (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Nairobi County, Kenya. It acquired the status of university in 1985, being the third university after University of Nairobi (1970) and Moi University (1984). As of O ...

Outstanding Young Alumni Award 2014 and was recognized as a

Business Daily The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

Top 40 under 40 in 2015.

Early life

Joseph Kinyanjui Kombani was born in Molo in the then Nakuru District of

Rift Valley Province Rift Valley Province ( sw, Mkoa wa Bonde la Ufa) of Kenya, bordering Uganda, was one of Kenya's eight provinces, before the Kenyan general election, 2013. Rift Valley Province was the largest and one of the most economically important provinces i ...

in Kenya. He was the last born in a family of five children. His mother single-handedly catered for the family in a single-roomed ''mabati'' house after separating from his father before he was born. Kinyanjui passed by a Standard Chartered branch on his way to school at Molo Academy for his primary school education, which would later become his employer. After the 1992 general elections, the ethnically diverse town of Molo was rocked by tribal skirmishes along with numerous others in Rift Valley, prompting his family to move out to his maternal ancestral home in

Njoro Njoro is an agricultural town 18 km west south west of Nakuru, Kenya situated on the western rim of the Rift Valley. Njoro town was the headquarters of the former Njoro District, hived off Nakuru District. Since 2010, when Njoro District was ...

, where he schooled up to form four. After the untimely passing of his mother, Kinyanjui was forced to move in with his brothers in Ngando, a slum off Ngong Road in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

. This later inspired the setting for his novel The Last Villains of Molo.

Education and banking career

After completing his secondary school education at Molo Academy in 1998, Kinyanjui Kombani was admitted to Kenyatta University in 2000 and graduated in 2004 with a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order for ...

in English & Literature. He also completed a program on Business mentorship at Inoorero University in 2012, becoming a career business mentor. Afterwards, he successfully applied for a position at

Standard Chartered Bank Standard Chartered plc is a multinational bank with operations in consumer, corporate and institutional banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in the UK, and around ...

as Customer Relations manager, despite not having graduated with a course in a relevant field. Other positions held there include Personal Financial Consultant, Business Financial Consultant, Relations Manager in Premium Banking, and most recently, the team leader for SME Banking in Kenya.

Writing career

Beginnings

Kinyanjui Kombani started writing in 2004 while at Kenyatta University, penning a play titled ''Carcasses'' for the Meat Trade Awareness project by Born Free Foundation. The play was widely performed by

travelling theatre. In Kenya alone, more than 60,000 rural people viewed the performance of the play. It was also staged elsewhere in Africa, Europe, and the United States. In 2004, Kombani also wrote the script for ''Mizoga,'' the film adaptation of the play which was shot by

Born Free Foundation The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity that campaigns to "Keep Wildlife in the Wild". It protects wild animals in their natural habitat, campaigns against the keeping of wild animals in captivity and rescues wild animals in ...

yet again. In the same year (2004), his first novel ''The Last Villains of Molo,'' was published by Acacia Stantex Publishers, two years after finishing the manuscript and signing a contract. The author has stated in interviews that he did not earn any royalties from the book for ten years. It was not until Longhorn Publishers released a second imprint in 2012 that the book, and its author, received widespread publicity. In 2007, the writer moved to Longhorn publishers and published two children's stories; ''Wangari Maathai: Mother of Trees'', and ''We Can be Friends,'' the latter of which was reproduced for the Rwandan market a year later in 2008. By this time, Kinyanjui was a well renowned novelist with a considerable fan base.

Mastery

In 2012, ''The Last Villains of Molo'' was republished by Longhorn Publishers. With proper marketing, the book was positively received by critics and the public, and it launched the career of Kinyanjui Kombani as a contemporary novelist. The book was soon approved for use as a study text in several universities in the country, including his Alma mater, Kenyatta University. The novel is also studied in universities in Germany, the United States, and England in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In 2014, his second novel ''Den of Inequities'', another odyssey into the experiences of slum life in Nairobi, was published to a positive reception yet again. The text has also been used as a study text in Kenya and Rwanda universities.

References

# Mbugua Ngunjiri (2013). Writer tackles ‘Villains of Molo’.https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000091137/writer-tackles-villains-of-molo retrieved 30 September 2017. # Kinyanjui Kombani. (2016). Why I may return my award, says chagrined writer. http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/weekend/KINYANJUI-KOMBANI-Why-I-may-return-my-award/1220-3457156-5hhi6jz/index.html retrieved 30 September 2017. # Kinyanjui Kombani. (2017). About Kinyanjui Kombani. http://www.kinyanjuikombani.com/about-kinyanjui.html retrieved 30 September 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kombani, Kinyanjui 1981 births Living people Kenyan novelists