Still Sings the Nightbird

written by Philo Ikonya

Do we live inside the breasts of our mothers? In the mind and hearts of two women, indeed at their breasts a nation lives. The whole universe is in the lives of the people Philo writes about. They hear the song of the nightjar and it has meaning. Inside a mother’s chest her daughter hangs like a silent unvenerated Pieta.“Wakabi has eyes inside her breast. She sees from inside there. She knows this story well…” A country’s literature is rooted in its history. But when history is full of hardship can authors create books pregnant with optimism? In Still Sings the Nightbird Philo Ikonya defies the currents of hopelessness to point her readers to a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel of nightmares. Out of the lonely cry of a nightjar, the rape of Kabi and indeed of Kenya, appears a light beaming into a brighter future.

Philo Ikonya

Philo Ikonya is a Kenyan poet, novelist and journalist. She is known for speaking out against injustice and corruption and has written extensively on governance, mass poverty and post-election violence in Kenya. She was arrested several times, and brutally in 2009, for speaking out. Philo is currently Oslo City of Refuge's Guest Writer, and features in the film project by Marion Stalens, Silence or Exile. Philo Ikonya is the author of This Bread of Peace, Out of Prison- Love Song, and Leading the Night. Visit Philo's blog here.