A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

**** BBC Radio 4 Extra marks one year since the death of a titan of modern African literature, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. He died on 28th May 2025 aged 87.

Written in 1967 and set four years earlier, on the eve of Kenyan independence, A Grain Of Wheat covers the years of the Mau Mau rebellion and is widely recognised as a classic of post-colonial African literature.

Ngugi states, "The characters are fictitious… But the situation and the problems are real – sometimes too painfully real for the peasants who fought the British, yet who now see all that they fought for being put on one side."

The story of a nation being born from a struggle against colonialism through the transitional times of the Emergency and the half-life in internment camps. Every character, black and white, male and female has a part to play in this ordeal of violent change.

The ‘Present’ of the story is the four days preceding the day of the Uhuru celebrations when Kenya became an independent nation, presided over by Jomo Kenyatta, Burning Spear, on 12th December 1963.

Written by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Adapted by Michael Eaton

Cast, in alphabetical order:

John Thompson …….. Philip Jackson
Kihika/Gikonyo …….. Ivanno Jeremiah
General R …….. Denver-Isaac Kwashe
Margery Thompson …….. Sarah Lawrie
Karanja …….. Wela Mbusi
Narrator …….. JC Niala
Mumbi …….. Bel Odawa
Mugo …….. Jude Owusu

Creative Consultant: JC Niala

Director: David Morley

A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2023.