Kenyan Author Alexander Nderitu Inks Deal With US Publisher LA CASE

FRANCIS MULIJan 12, 20221.3k

Under the agreement, LA CASE Books will publish two Alexander Nderitu titles - When the Whirlwind Passes and Kiss, Commander, Promise – in audiobook format. [Photo/ Courtesy]

US-based publisher LA CASE Books has inked a deal with award-winning Kenyan writer Alexander Nderitu. Under the agreement, LA CASE Books will publish two Nderitu titles – When the Whirlwind Passes and Kiss, Commander, Promise – in audiobook format.

“We are very excited about this new collaboration. I met Alex in Nairobi in 2017 and I love his books and his style of writing. We need new voices, voices like Alex,’ said Giacomo Brunoro, LA CASE Books’ editor-in-chief.

“African literature is very underrated and audiobooks are a great way to talk to the world. We look at African literature with enormous interest and we are working towards publishing new titles and new African authors in the next few months.”

Via LA CASE Books, audiobook versions of When the Whirlwind Passes (a novel) and Kiss, Commander, Promise (a short stories collection) are already available in sixty-six countries on the Google Play platform. Each download costs USD1.99 and takes about five hours to listen to. The works of fiction are auto-narrated by Maxwell and Mike, generated by Google Artificial Intelligence. Auto-narrated audiobooks use AI (artificial intelligence) and text-to-speech technology to create audio from physical books or e-books.

LA CASE Books was founded in Los Angeles in 2010 as an editorial project between Italy and the United States. From the beginning, LA CASE Books operated in the digital space with ‘great stories at a small price’ as their philosophy. To date, they have published eBooks, audiobooks, audio-documentaries, eComics, physical books, and podcasts totaling over 850 titles in seven languages (English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, Russian and Polish).

Alexander Nderitu is a poet, novelist, playwright and critic. In 2001, he published his first novel, When the Whirlwind Passes online. The crįme/suspense novel is regarded as Africa’s first purely digital novel. He has since published three more books: The Moon is Made of Green Cheese (2008), Kiss Commander Promise (2021), and The Talking of Trees (2021).

In 2017, Business Daily newspaper listed him amongst Kenya’s ‘Top 40 Under 40 Men’. In 2020, he was a finalist for the Collins Elesiro Literature Prize. In 2021, his play Freedom Corner was a co-winner of the IHRAF African Human Rights Playwriting Prize.

Read: At 96, Former CBK Governor Plays Golf And Just Authored Four Books

>>> Somali Girl Becomes Author at 19 and Lands Lucrative Deal

Written by

FRANCIS MULI -

Editor and writer, Francis Muli has a passion for human interest stories. He holds a BSc in Communication and Journalism from Moi University and has worked for various organisations including Kenya Television Service. Email:[email protected]