An accountant’s passion for writing

Stanley Onjezani Kenani

Writer, accountant

Following in the footsteps of such great writers as John Grisham, a qualified accountant and lawyer, the literal ability of Stanley Onjezani Kenani cannot be undermined. A winner of numerous literary awards, Kenani talks about his love for reading, writing and his accounting career with ALBERT SHARRA.

A child of Mbuzi Village in T/A Nthunduwala in Kasungu, Kenani was born in 1976. He is a product of hard work and recalls that despite his love for reading he had no access to books because the nearest library was 60 kilometres away from his home.

Instead, he concentrated on reading religious books and tracts his late father, who was a Jehovah’s Witness member, had in the house.

But Kenani believes his passion in writing started the moment he was introduced to writings of Willy Zingani and the late Jolly Max Ntaba.  He would write short articles in his notebooks and read them sometime later.

A transfer to Kasungu Boma in 1998 marked a new chapter of his writing and reading career. He joined the National Library Service (NLS) as a member and spent much of his time there.

“It was a tiny library, but for one who had never had the benefit of a proper library since birth, it was like my reserve bank of knowledge,” said the writer in an interview.

As time progressed, he started writing short stories and sent them to Malawi News. He said the polished stories that were published re-shaped his writing and over time he improved such that some of his short stories were coming out unedited. This motivated Kenani  to write more.

Then he started sending articles to Nation Publications Limited (NPL) and most of them were published on My Turn page. He also published in Weekend Nation and through interactions with editors; Kenani improved on his work. He now stands among writers who have authored and published poems and short stories in the country.

He has also held the office of president of the Malawi Writers Union (Mawu).

Some of his stories earned space in popular publications such as the SABLE Literary Magazine in UK, Hudson View in South Africa, and other two anthologies—Tonight edited by Amitabh Mitra  in South Arica and No Serenity in China. Another article will come out next month in a Ugandan anthology.

At the same time, Kenani was writing stage plays for Theatre of the Air and Nzeru Nkupangwa radio programmes on MBC Radio One. He also had a stint in drama with Code Sangala, Noel Chimkwende, Vincent Khonyongwa, Ruth Chikafa and Samuel Kuseka.

He has also recited his poems at Alive Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, Poetry Africa in Durban, South Africa, Harare International festival of Arts (Haifa) in Zimbabwe and at the Struga Poetry Evenings in Macedonia.

His poetry journey has helped him rub shoulders with great poets such as  Muhmoud Darwish(Palestine), Natalie Handal (USA), Carolyn Forche (USA), Dennis Brutus(RSA), Chikurechikure and Shimmer Chinodya(Zimbabwe).

Kenani attended Nthunduwala  and Kasungu Boma primary schools. He was selected to Mtendere Secondary School where he earned a place to the Polytechnic to study  bachelors of accountancy. He left the corridors of the college in 2001.

Between 2004 and 2007, the ambitious Kenani enrolled for distance learning courses and obtained two ACCA certificates to become a chartered accountant. He was working with Lilongwe Water Board then.

In 2007, he got a second turning point of his life in writing. He got an international recognition when his short story For Honour won the third prize in the SA PEN/HSBC Literary Award competition. The competition was open to writers in the Southern African Development Community. It was organised by the South African PEN in Cape Town. The short story was also shortlisted for Africa’s most prestigious literary award, Caine Prize.

Kenani is yet to put on the table his first novel. His first manuscript titled The Auditor, which was to be published into a novel, is not coming out anytime soon. He says he observed some gaps in the content and is re-working it to suit both the local and international market. He says he wants it published by major publishers in USA or UK.

He is currently working on a 90 000 words-manuscript about a brief history of freedom. The manuscript will be edited by Russell Rowland of USA.

Kenani has received several awards although he feels he is yet to write his best article