Kinyatti, who was himself taken prisoner for six and a half years in 1982 for writing on the Mau Mau movement during Daniel arap Moi’s regime, intimates the hard conditions and torture prisoners faced.

The challenging aspect of children’s books, says Robert Dersley, is timing. One can throw so much love into the illustrations it can never end. 

Flipping through the pages of After 4.30, you’ll find yourself seated beside Emili, Lili, and Beti, women who feel eerily familiar. Women you might recognise. As you read, faces come to mind; some alive, some lost.

Representation in children’s literature is more than just numbers. It is about creating a world where every child can see themselves, in the characters they encounter and the authors who create them.

Kari’s inspiration also drew from the oral stories her mother used to tell — tales filled with ogres, village life and mystical animals. These folk memories, deeply rooted in Kenyan tradition, became the seedbed for her literary world.

Promoting Marxism was the turning point of Ngugi in ruffling feathers with President Jomo Kenyatta, who was pro-capitalism. Kenyatta went after Ngugi and threw him into detention for interfering with the political kitchen.