Renowned Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina dies at 48

Renowned Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina is dead at 48 years.

The 2002 Caine Prize winner for African Writing reportedly passed on Tuesday at 10pm after suffering a stroke.

Binyavanga had, in January 2014, elicited mixed reactions from Kenyans online when he publicly announced that he was gay.

In response to a wave of anti-gay laws passed in Africa, Binyavanga wrote “Nobody, nobody, ever in my life has heard this. I am a homosexual, mum,” in a confession subtitled “A Lost Chapter”, in the book ‘One Day I Will Write About This Place.’

He then went ahead to tweet: “I am, for anybody confused or in doubt, a homosexual. Gay, and quite happy.”

His short story “Discovering Home” scooped the 2002 Caine Prize for African writing and – in 2003 – he was given an award by the Kenya Publisher’s Association in recognition of his services to Kenyan literature.

The famed author first suffered a stroke at his home near Bomas of Kenya in October 31, 2015, and was taken to India for treatment.