At the inaugural Asian Literary Festival in Kenya, author and critic Alexander Nderitu gave an open lecture titled ‘Nairobi as a UNESCO City of Literature’. Speaking at Eugenia Park on 29^th May 2026, the genre-hopping author announced that his lecture was to be interactive and the first of many such engagements geared at rallying support behind the movement. ‘There’s a certain element of collaboration involved,’ he said. ‘It’s a very democratic thing. People should agree that a city deserves the status.’ He regretted not having started his advocacy earlier, having first mentioned Nairobi’s eligibility in a 2014 paper he authored, titled ‘Changing Kenya’s Literary Landscape’. In the interim, he stated, several other African cities had joined the UNESCO CoL club: Durban (South Africa), Abuja (Nigeria), Conakry (Guinea), Tangier (Morocco), and Buffalo City (South Africa). ‘We could have been the pioneers,’ he said. ‘But we have to apply. Like anything else in life, you’re not going to get it just because you deserve it. You have to go for it. I believe that Cairo and Lagos also qualify. Abuja has been designated, but a country can have more than one City of Literature. Also, Conakry has been designated both a UNESCO World Book Capital and a UNESCO City of Literature, but the latter is a better option to pursue because it’s more permanent. The World Book Capital status is like a beauty contest because it’s only for a year.’ 

Nderitu gave several reasons for Nairobi City’s eligibility. These included the prodigious production, consumption, translation, and sale of both local and foreign literature in the city; the abundance of libraries; the quality and impact of the literature taught in schools; the large pool of local writers; numerous spoken word poetry events; and ever-increasing literary festivals. ‘You can tell that Nairobi is a literary city just from the number of inama bookstores (street book vendors). They’re so many that some even specialise in specific genres: classics, novels, motivational books, and so on. As for hosting literary events, this event I’m currently speaking at is an example. And it’s the third one this month. Earlier, we had the Africa Forward Festival and the NBO Litfest.’

An audience member asked what Nairobi would gain apart from the prestige brought on by the UNESCO status. Nderitu argued that it would elevate Nairobi to the global literary stage and boost cultural tourism. It would also make it easier for Nairobi to engage in cultural programmes with the other Cities of Literature around the globe. He also admitted that it would additionally improve Nairobi’s deteriorating image. ‘We really need a win,’ he said. 

Nderitu ended his talk by indicating that he would travel around the country seeking “corroboration” from other stakeholders, such as publishers and literary associations, and writers. The information and feedback he will gather will then be made freely available on Academia.eduand also presented to the Nairobi County Government, which would in turn make a formal bid. UNESCO’s City of Literature programme calls for nominations every four years. It is a part of the wider Creative Cities Network which currently includes 408 cities around the world. The stated objective is ‘to place creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and co-operating actively at the international level.’ After his talk, Nderitu played animated videos from official UNESCO websites, expounding on the City of Literature programme. 

Incidentally, Alexander Nderitu was born on April 23^rd, which is UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day. In 2001, he became Africa’s first ‘digital novelist’. He has since published short stories, stage plays, and articles. In 2017, Business Daily newspaper named him one of Kenya’s ‘Top 40 Under 40 Men’. His other accolades include a Share Africa Climate Fiction Award, a Sahitto Literature Jury Award, and a Sevhage-Agema Founders’ Prize for African Criticism.