Hay Festival Nairobi: Giles Foden on African literature But by 1990, living in Uganda and writing my first novel, The Last King of Scotland, I had also become aware of the rich tradition of African literature which predated and also responded to colonialism. Much of my professional life has been about being trying to find a balance between these two traditions. Call me a romantic for trying, but it's all about being ancient and modern at the same time, which is a necessary duality in all cultures. The differentials to be respected are to do with history, not race and region. It's the swirling river of time that makes our identities, not the monochromatic simplicity of skin colour, or the definitive lines of international borders. Ngugi had actually only published a few stories in college journals by then (in English), and those writing in indigenous languages did not attend by definition. East and Central Africa, as opposed to South and West Africa, were not well represented. It wasn't until five or six years later that a distinct post-colonial literary identity began to emerge in East and Central Africa. In terms of publishing in English, there was a sense of running to catch up with other parts of the continent, and to a degree that is still true. But of course, there had been vibrant literatures in indigenous languages across the region for centuries. In that sense it's us in the West who need to catch up, to learn about the Swahili and Lwo and Amharic and other literatures and make them part of the international canon. My own journey as a writer has involved that process. To realise belatedly that there are Swahili epic poems which rival their European equivalents for sweep and power has been exciting. What a joy to find that long before Zadie Smith there was another great work called White Teeth (or Lak Tar in its original Lwo) by the Ugandan poet Okot p'Bitek. Alas, much work remains untranslated so one must fall back on literature "of English expression." It's good for us anyhow. The Malawian David Rubadiri's poem "Stanley Meets Mutesa" is a text every British schoolchild should read - ideally alongside T S Eliot's "Journey of the Magi," which it imitates and in some respects exceeds. The poems of another Malawian, Jack Mapanje, who was in prison in Malawi while I was growing up there, remind us that writers are still oppressed in many African countries. Writing about Africa by Africans has been part of my literary apprenticeship, standing alongside works by authors such as Joseph Conrad, Joyce Cary and Graham Greene as influences. And while I am in Kenya at the festival, I hope to find out about many more African writers of a younger generation, and keep on learning. If I can find a jacaranda tree under which to read them, all the better. Giles Foden is British Council Guest of Honour at the Hay Storymoja Festival. As well as The Last King of Scotland, his books about Africa include Ladysmith, Zanzibar and Mimi and Toutou Go Forth. He is leading a creative writing class on Thursday at 1pm in the Discovery Room [Event 15]. He is speaking on Saturday at 11am on the US Embassy Stage [Event 39], and introducing a screening of the Oscar-winning film of The Last King of Scotland on Saturday at 5pm in the Ford Hall [Event 56] For information about the Telegraph Hay Festival See Hay Festival website for details about Hay Nairobi