LIT/A/3: BLOSSOMS OF THE SAVANNAH By Ole Kulet

Blossoms of the Savannah won the Jomo Kenyatta Literary Prize 2009, Kulet’s work was hailed for powerfully addressing the elusive concerns of female genital mutilation and early marriages among the Maa community of the Maasai. It is the story of two sisters, Taiyo and Resian, who are on the verge of womanhood and torn between their personal ambitions and the humiliating duty to the Nasila tradition. Relocation to their rural home heralds a cultural alienation born of their refusal to succumb to female genital mutilation and early marriages. In pursuit of the delicate and elusive socio-economic cultural balance in Nasila, Ole. Kaelo, the girls' father is ensnared by a corrupt extortionist. To extricate himself he sends his daughters into a flat-spin labyrinth from which they have to struggle to escape.