Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: three days with a giant of African literature

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o at his home in California. Photograph: Michael Tyrone Delaney/The Guardian

Approach

In October, I flew to Irvine to meet the novelist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. I had spent the previous few weeks in cold and windy Iowa, and the sunshine and warmth of California was a balm. I sat in the back seat of my cab, quiet. Outside, huge American trucks thundered past, the tangy smell of the ocean in the air.