Alexander Nderitu is a Kenyan-born novelist, scriptwriter and Internet guru. He is deeply involved with theatre (stage productions) and has also expressed interest in filmed entertainment. His literature is available in English, Japanese and Arabic. As a writer, he is a signatory to the PEN Charter which calls for balance when writing on international issues.

Nderitu (who now likes to be called Saint Alex, after Mexican Lucha Libre icon 'EL Santo') was born on 23rd April. By what he calls 'a happy coincidence' it was the exact same day as William Shakespeare's birthday (23rd April, 1564). A voracious reader of books from a young age (he claims to have read 'everyone from Shakespeare to Perelman'), Nderitu honed his writing skills early in life. But it wasn't until his high school English teacher told her other students, 'I wish you you could all write the way Alexander does!' that he decided to become a career writer.

He graduated from high school at the top of his class and wrote his first feature-length screenplay at the age of 19. The script, about a near-war between Kenya and the DRC, was later changed into a novel, Climate of Terror. Coming to Nairobi city in 2001, 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, which was initially a free download on his website.

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.

During the 2007 General Elections, he worked as a ghostwriter for a top minister on the campaign trail. (The scandal-ridden politician lost his seat and later quit politics).

In 2008, he released a poetry collection, The Moon is Made of Green Cheese, which is available on the award-winning Print-on-Demand website, www.lulu.com. (Nderitu is actually best known as a pioneer of e-books and On-Demand systems.)

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.

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 2011, he co-founded, along with other artistically inclined/talented people, the Artists for Contemporary Theatre (A.C.T.) stage and film production group.

A film based on Nderitu's romantic stage play The Stacy Walker Interview is currently in the works.

The short story Kiss, Commander, Promise is currently being translated into Japanese, along with a few other Alexander Nderitu short stories. Kiss, Commander, Promise is also earmarked for film.

Nderitu used to write a wildly popular humour column for Matatu Today magazine. He has also posted numerous poems on the Internet, some of which have also appeared in local (Kenyan) newspapers and in a VoicesNet poetry anthology.

His other works include include The Patriots Club, a thriller about arms smuggling and What's Wrong With This Picture?, a stage play about the Hollywood film-making industry. An English teacher in a Lavington (Nairobi) school described What's Wrong With This Picture? as 'the best play by a Kenyan' he had ever read. Such praise made Nderitu feel that he was underrated. In 2008, he started writing, producing, recording music. In one of his songs, he confesses that, 'I traded pens for mics because I wanted a bigger bang.' ('Zoom!', The Spoken Word Vol.2) And in the track 'Demons' (The Spoken Word Vol.1), he states: 'I'm a truth seeker like Michael Moore / Been on the grind but I have a Hunger for More.'

In 2012, Nderitu was appointed the Deputy Secretary-General of Kenya PEN, the local chapter of International PEN, the oldest literary movement in the world.

Maggie's encounter with Michael Othaya, the young heir to a multi-billion-shilling fashion empire, marked the beginning of a cataclysmic cycle of events that would involve sex, manipulation, conspiracy...and first-degree murder.

To be sure, the Sultans of Fashion had had their fair share of scandals and intrigues in the past. Overly ambitious and genetically predisposed towards greed, the rich and famous Othayas were no strangers to controversy.But it wasn't until Michael and Maggie - a laundry woman's daughter - started romancing that the feuding family's civil war reached its climax...

Easily digested and written with a handle on humour, When the Whirlwind Passes is doubtless one of the best crime novels to ever come out of Africa.

Now available in paperback at www.lulu.com

Amazon Kindle version available at Amazon.com

E-PUB and other e-book versions available at www.lulu.com

Reviews for WHEN THE WHIRLWIND PASSES:

‘Alexander Nderitu is one of a handful of young, brilliant writers to come off the Kenyan terrain in the recent past. His books (hoping there will be many more)…are pure commercial escapism, and brilliantly written at that.’ - SATURDAY magazine

'Start popping the champagne bottles, as at an Othaya house party: a new literary star has been born!' - Stanley Kiprop, journalist

‘Nderitu certainly harbours a lot of talent.’ - Gitura Mwaura, author of Portraits of the Heart

Reviews for other works

In Kenya, a love triangle between a high-strung cop, a naïve writer and a beautiful girl called Angela spirals dangerously out of control… In North Korea, a disillusioned spy plays a cat-and-mouse game against his own secret service… In Canada, a successful businesswoman must outwit a stalker who has come a little too close for comfort… In Israel, a secret plan to bioengineer an army of cloned soldiers creates 'the perfect storm’ of controversy… In Sweden, ripples of alarm begin to spread when a soon-to-be-crowned Nobel laureate goes missing, believed kidnapped… Back in Nairobi, an investigator is called in after an Indian family’s wedding plans turn into funeral arrangements… Meanwhile, an Egyptian defector becomes the focal point of an African Cold War - but is he a player or a pawn in the international game of political chess? ...And finally, the Rwandan Genocide is revisited in a heart-rending tale of courage, sacrifice, hatred and fear…

( Kiss Commander Promise includes the Graham Greene-ish spy story, Life as a Flower)

Available in e-book and paperback formats at Lulu.com

'MASTER OF PROSE AND POETRY' - The Highland Tribune

Nderitu's inaugural poetry collection, The Moon is Made of Green Cheese, hit cyberspace on January 20, 2008. This ground-breaking book was one the first Kenyan poetry books to be made available via a Print-on-Demand system!

The poems themselves cover a wide range of topics, from love to philosophy to nature and the art of poetry itself. The verses were crafted between 2004 and 2007 and Alexander Nderitu, best known as the first African e-novelist. Nderitu is currently working on his sophomre poetry anthology.

Although The Moon is Made of Green Cheese is available on POD, buyers can also choose to download it as an e-book (PDF format) for half the price. In addition, browsers can read the first ten pages of the book for free - in case they feel the need to sample the collection before reaching for their credit cards.

Unlike Nderitu's first book, When the Whirlwind Passes, which was touchingly dedicated to his late high school English teacher, this New Age book is dedicated to poetry lovers the world over and contains no less than two tribute poems to the great poets of yesteryear. More information

All of Alexander Nderitu's scripts for stage plays by are now available for licensing. Modifications / translations can be discussed with the author. Click here for more information.

Get into Alexander Nderitu's head with these quotable quotes

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Click on the image to the left to download and read one of the stories from 'Kiss, Commander,Promise' free of charge.

Visit Alexander Nderitu's new blog

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Sample the music of Alexander Nderitu