The School Leavers' Party: A Memoir

By Mucemi Gakuru

Set in rural Kenya during the 1970s, this memoir follows a young boy as he navigates primary school, village traditions, and the pressures of national exams. When a school-leaver's party requires students to raise funds, he faces hardship, work, and responsibilities beyond the classroom. Blending folklore, Gĩkũyũ customs, and everyday school life, the story highlights the tension between tradition and modernity. A tribute to resilience and cultural memory, this heartfelt narrative celebrates identity, community strength, and the journey from childhood to adulthood.

"...These stories paint characters and episodes that are relatable, and one can find ready-made cognates in nearly every African community of the era narrated in the text and beyond. If cameras were a rarity in those days, as the author laments in one of the passages, we are nevertheless fortunate spectators of Mucemi's photographic memory that re-convokes the past with commendable perspicacity and lucidity." -Gil Ndi-Shang University of Bayreuth & author of The Radio and Other Stories

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 195729678X
• ISBN13: 9781957296784
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Spears Media Press
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"