By IPS Correspondents
NAIROBI, Aug 22 2003 (IPS)

She is so artistic, so poetic, that every sentence she jots accentuates her creativity and passion for writing.

This is Kenya’s Yvonne Adhiambo, recipient of this year’s Annual Caine prize for African Writing. She was also honoured with a cheque of 15,000 dollars. "I love the art of putting words together because they make patterns that create a whole picture in the mind, it is like magic," she told IPS.

Yvonne, who is currently based in Zanzibar where she works as executive director of the Zanzibar Film Festival (ZIFF), was awarded the prize for her short story, Weight of Whispers, in July in Oxford, Britain.

"For me, the Caine prize is an impetus to write. It is an affirmation for tentative closet writers such as I was, to believe in the possibilities within and about writing from African space," she remarked.

The prize, which attracts thousands of entries from across the continent every year, is awarded to an African writer whether in the region or elsewhere, who has written a short story published in English.

Yvonne’s story is quite captivating. It is about exile, alienation, and reluctant and unexpected journeys which people are forced to take by circumstances. It talks of a family of Rwandese refugees in Nairobi, who have to abandon their high-cost, royal and lavish treatment and get used to some back-street kind of living.

She says she was inspired to come up with such a theme by feelings of alienation, which sometimes afflict her even in her home space. Besides, she was concerned at the way people ill-treat aliens. "I have been puzzled by the way we sometimes treat those who have lost the most and have sought sanctuary on our spaces," noted 35 year-old Yvonne.

Her talent in writing was noticed when she was in primary school, and her teachers then, encouraged her develop it. "I once wrote a Christmas poem for my English teacher, she was shocked, and she thought I had copied it. I later saw the poem on the notice-board with five golden stars and I knew I had done well," she said, adding, "I was very excited".

Yvonne, whose life has been surrounded by books, owes it to her parents and eight siblings who she says helped her nurture her creativity. They also cheered her when she entered the contest. Her father is the Executive Director of Federation of Kenya Employers, an umbrella body of Kenyan employers, while her mother is a retired biology teacher.

Her writing career has been sharpened by what she summarises as "wonderful mentors, delightful family, especially bibliophile and imaginative parents, wonderful circle of friends, a passion for a good story and curiosity about life."

In her list of mentors is her Kenyan editor, Binyivanga Wainaina, who entered her story in the competition. Wainaina captured the award last year.

Her eloquence in literature is a product a conglomeration of courses she undertook at a higher learning facility in Kenya. She possesses a Bachelor of Education degree in Linguistics, English and History, which she acquired from Kenyatta University in 1990.

Yvonne, who graduated with a master’s degree in Television/Video Development at Reading University in the UK just three year ago, is in the process of writing a novel whose contents she cannot disclose. She says it is like trying to describe an unborn child.

She has learnt to take challenges easy by "keeping the faith, believing in the good against all odds, no matter how gruesome everything can seem."

Yvonne evades commenting on what she considers as success in her life by saying, "I will leave my epitaphers to speak about my achievements," but adds, "I’m aware that even this prize is but a beginning for another journey."

Asked about her ultimate goals, she replies, "To laugh and love life no matter what it comes up with! And yes, to be free to write and write and write and live and love off it."

Yvonne, who is a co-founder of a number of organisations and trusts in Kenya, has a piece of advice to upcoming artists across the world; "Watch and study your space, study those around you. Feel and write. Tell the story in your heart. Above all, write even if it is a pencil marking an old exercise book, and surround yourselves with mentors who will be honest with you. Avoid negative people like the plague! Or if you meet them, write them in as characters, but write and keep writing and seek paths to share your work."

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