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Grace Ogot

Biography

Grace Ogot was born Grace Emily Akinyi in Butere in 1930. She went to the local girls’ schools, where she learned English, which she used to read the Bible, an early influence on her work. She went to England to study nursing and, while there, corresponded with the historian Bethwell Allan Ogot, whom she later married. She started writing in her mother tongue, Luo, before switching to English and Swahili. While working as a nursing sister in Uganda, she attended a literary conference and was surprised to find no books from East African writers, so she determined to be more productive. She started writing stories, before moving on to novels. She makes extensive use of the traditions, folklore and background of Luo region of Kenya in her writings. As well as writing, she has been an M. P. and minister in Kenya as well as working for the BBC as an editor and broadcaster. She died in 2015.

Other links

Grace Ogot
Grace Ogot took the African story to the world
Beware and Be Warned (profile of Ogot)

Bibliography

1966 The Promised Land
1968 Land Without Thunder
1976 The Other Woman: Selected Short Stories
1979 Nchi bila ya ngurumo
1980 The Island of Tears
1980 The Graduate
1981 Ber Wat
1981 Aloo kod Apul-Apul
1983 Miaha (The Strange Bride)
1983 Simbi nyaima
2012 Days of my Life (autobiography)
2018 Princess Nyilaak
2018 The Royal Bead