BIOGRAPHY
After studying IT in college, Nderitu relocated to Nairobi city where he worked as a movie reviewer and later as a Website Designer. His IT background led him to explore Internet options for literary work. In November 2001, he became Africa's first ‘digital novelist’ with the Internet publication of his signature thriller, When the Whirlwind Passes.
In 2004, he was nominated for the Douglas Coupland Short Story Award for his despairing spy story, Life as a Flower. In the Spring of 2007, Life as a Flower was included in the Reading Section of an assessment exam in Pennsylvania, USA. In late 2007, Nderitu won a Theatre Company prize for his humorous stage play, Hannah and the Angel. The play was performed in 17 different venues, including Phoenix Theatre in Nairobi, by the Fire By Ten acting group. In 2012, Hannah and the Angel was translated to Japanese.
In 2008, he released his first poetry collection, The Moon is Made of Green Cheese, which is available in paperback as well as e-formats on the award-winning Print-on-Demand website, www.lulu.com.
On 19th November 2008, Nderitu’s office-based stage play, The Smartest Guy in the Boardroom, played to a full house at Pumwani Social Hall, Nairobi. The performance was done by Changing Scenes theatre group. |
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In 2008, he released a short story anthology titled Kiss, Commander, Promise. The title story from Kiss, Commander, Promise (a spy story set against the backdrop of a fictional African Cold War) has been optioned for film and is also being translated into Japanese.
In 2009, two short Nderitu stories, 'Rock and Republic' and 'A Cold Day in December' were both shortlisted in the Kwani?-organised writing competition whose theme was 'The Kenya I Live In.'
In 2010, controversial author/researcher David Icke used the poem 'The Moon is Made of Green Cheese' by Nderitu to defend himself against allegations that he once worked for British intelligence. Laughing off the claim, Icke (the self-styled "most controversial speaker and author in the world") wrote on his official website, 'That must have been at the same time that I sprouted wings, flew to the moon for a green cheese sandwich and then went on to Mars for a chocolate bar. Oh yeah, I remember now.' And below that, he posted the wacky love poem.
In 2011, he co-founded, along with other artistically inclined/talented people, the Artists for Contemporary Theatre (A.C.T.) stage and film production group. In January 2012, Nderitu released a research document entitled Changing Kenya's Literary Landscape (2012 Onwards). The free document made a bigger impact on the literary scene than any of his fiction had ever done and was praised by aspiring writers, established writers and the media alike. It also earned him friends both at home and abroad, and inspired a flurry of copy-cat non-fiction papers by fiction writers. In late 2012, was appointed the Deputy Secretary-General of Kenya PEN, the local chapter of International PEN (The oldest literary movement in the world).
During the 2013 General Elections, he briefly worked as a Social Media Consultant for a government department.
In 2014, Nderitu's poem 'Someone in Africa Loves You' was chosen to represent Kenyan literature during the Commonwealth Games in Scotland. The poem has since been translated into Arabic by Egyptian intellectual Mohamed Ghoneem (Egypt). Later the same year, Nderitu appeared on the cover of 'Zuqka' which was then Kenya's widest circulation entertainment magazine. Also in 2014, Nderitu released another research document, entitled Changing Kenya's Literary Landscape 2: Past, Present and Future. The document has thus far been accessed in over 100 countries.
In 2016, Nderitu contributed some poems and the short story 'Harvest of Blood' to the 'IFLAC Peace and Anti-Terror Anthology' e-book project. The collaborative work consisted of articles, short stories, poems and haikus from 93 contributors in 23 different countries. Besides promoting peaceful resolutions to world problems, the 'Peace and Anti-Terror Anthology' is taught in several colleges and universities, and is especially impactful in the Middle East.
Nderitu has given talks at universities, literary events and writers' groups and has been at the forefront of promoting reading and writing with the aid of technology in East Africa. He contributes articles on arts and culture various newspapers and online magazines. His essays and poetry have appeared in such publications as the Indian-based Ars Artium (peer reviewed) and Mexico-based The Ofi Press. His poetry has appeared in both the World Poetry Almanac and the World Poetry Yearbook.
In 2017, TheTheatreTimes.com (a global theatre news portal) appointed Alexander Nderitu as their Kenyan Editor. Later the same year, Business Daily newspaper named him amongst Kenya's 'Top 40 Under 40 Men'. In 2018, Nderitu poem, 'The Nile' was broadcast by World Poetrty Cafe. This was the first time an African poem had been aired by Canadian based program in its 20-year history. Nderitu was later appointed World Poetry Cafe's 'Africa Correspondent'. In 2019, the script for Hannah and the Angel was a finalist in the ASSITEJ SA Playwriting Contest. In 2020, he was a finalist for the Collins Elesiro Literature Prize. Nderitu is the Deputy Secretary-General of Kenyan PEN and is a Regional Managing Editor for TheTheatreTimes.com, a global theatre news portal.
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Alexander Nderitu is a Kenyan-born novelist, poet, playwright and critic, Nderitu was born on 23rd April which is also William Shakespeare's birthday and UNESCO's 'World Book and Copyright Day'. Some of his literature has been translated into Kiswahili, Dholuo, Chinese, Swedish, French, 
