Author Asenath Bole Odaga dies at 83

Writer and publisher Asenath Bole Odaga. Bole, one of Kenya’s pioneer oral literature writers has died aged 83. PHOTO | FILE  

In Summary

• Credited for being one of Kenya’s first indigenous publishers, she wrote several children stories in a career that spanned decades.
• The publisher’s son Peter Odaga said his mother suffered two heart attacks before she died.
• Mr Odaga said that the literary icon was hospitalised for three weeks in June in an Indian hospital for cancer treatment.

By PATRICK LANGAT
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One of Kenya’s pioneer oral literature writers Asenath Bole Odaga is dead.

The 83-year-old publisher passed on at Avenue Hospital in Kisumu on Monday night.

Credited for being one of Kenya’s first indigenous publishers, she wrote several children stories in a career that spanned decades.

Her firm Lake Publishers, based in Kisumu, came to the aid of a number of writers who did not have a place to get their works published as it was the first and only indigenous publishing firm in Kenya  in the 1970s.

The publisher’s son Peter Odaga said his mother suffered two heart attacks before she died.

Mr Odaga said that the literary icon was hospitalised for three weeks in June in an Indian hospital for cancer treatment.

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“She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but the doctors in India could not remove the tumor because it was considered delicate and we were advised that it could be fatal because its effects had already spread to other organs,” he told Nation at their Kisumu home yesterday.

Mr Odaga said they were advised to bring her back to the country for therapy until she was admitted at Avenue Hospital a week ago.

Mrs Odaga wrote children stories that included the famous one being the Kip stories that featured Kip on the Farm of 1972, Kip Goes to the City and Kip at the Coast, both published in 1997.

Mrs Odaga was first published in 1966 with her novel Secrets of Monkey Rock.

Her husband Mzee James Odaga celebrated her as a committed and genuine Christian with a strong personality that had touched many lives through her writing.

A potrait of Publisher Asenath Bole Odaga who died on Monday at Avenue Nursing Hospital PHOTO | TOM OTIENO

“She has contributed immensely to the development of children literature for decades,” he said at his Kisumu home yesterday.

Mr Odaga described his wife as a critical thinker who spent most of her time writing and thinking.

She is credited with popularizing the Luo language in her various writings that include the Dholuo-English Dictionary published in 2005 and the Luo Sayings of 1994.

Her other works include Something for Nothing published in 2001 and Between the Years published in 1987.

She was also actively involved in women empowerment.