Program Schedule

Translating Ngũgĩ: From Here to There | From Then to Now
   
A  Celebration

Thursday and Friday, November 13-14, 2025

Location: 1030 HG | 135 HIB | William Gillespie Studios CTSA





Thursday, November 13
(1030 HG)


12:00 — 12:15 PM

Dean Tyrus Miller 

12:15 — 12:30 PM

Wangui wa Goro

12:30 — 1:30 PM

Session 1: Remembering Ngũgĩ


Simon Gikandi (Zoom)
James Ogude 
Ndirangu Wachanga


1:30 — 2:30 PM

Session 2: Decolonising the Mind: Contemporary Postcolonial Ideas


Gayatri Spivak


2:30 — 3:00 PM

Coffee Break



3:00 — 4:00 PM

Session 3: Remembering Ngũgĩ – Then and Now 


Wanjiku wa Ngũgĩ
Nyambura Sallinen
Mumbi wa Ngũgĩ
Nducu wa Ngũgĩ


4:00 — 5:00 PM
Session 4: Legacies: Ngugi and the International Center for Writing and Translation


Jane O. Newman
Jerry Lee
Karen Lawrence
Colette Labouff
Baba Badji


5:00 — 6:00 PM

Reception in the patio of 1030 HG



6:00 — 7:30 PM


Session 5: Performing Ngũgĩ 1  (McCormick Screening Room)


Ketu Katrak
Joel Veenstra
S. Ama Wray
Jaye Austin Williams
Screening of The Making of The Trial of Dedan Kimathi



Friday, November 14
(135 HIB)


12:00 — 1:30 PM

Session 1: TBD


Cilas Kemedjio
Siba N’Zatioula Grovogui


1:30 — 2:30 PM

Session 2: TBD


Gabrielle Schwab
David Theo Goldberg
Rajagopalan Rhadakrishnan


2:30 — 3:30 PM

Coffee Break



3:30 — 4:00 PM

Session 3: Performing Ngũgĩ 2


Munyao Kilolo
Glaydah Namukasa
Fred Moten (Zoom)
Jimmy Centeno
Idza Luhumyo (Zoom)
Helen Mugambi
Bwesigye Bwa-Mwesigire
Kwame Rĩgĩĩ 


4:00 — 4:15 PM

Coffee Break



4:30 — 6:00 PM

Session 4:  The Harambee: Orality in Motion (African Dance, Music, Multimedia Performance, and Workshop)
(William Gillespie Studios, Center for Contemporary Art)


Rah Hite
Kwame Rĩgĩĩ
Nii Armah Sowah
Anindo Marshall
Sela Adjei
S. Ama Wray
Cyrian Reed

6:00 — 6:30 PM

Reception










The Celebration of the Life and Work of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is made possible through the support of the:

UCI Office of the Chancellor
Dean of the School of the Arts
Dean of the School of Humanities
Dean of the School of Social Sciences
Humanities Center
International Center for Writing and Translation
UCI Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality
Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies
Office of Inclusive Excellence
UCI Illuminations: The Chancellor's Arts & Culture Initiative
Alex Glasser The Center for the Power of Music and Social Change
Departments of Anthropology
Department of Comparative Literature
Department of Drama
Department of English
Department of Dance