Rebeka Njau
Kenyan artist, playwright and novelist
Rebeka Njaū (née Nyanjega; born 15 December 1932) is a Kenya educator and writer, who was Kenya's first female playwright and a pioneer in the representation of African women in literature. Her writing has addressed topics such as female genital mutilation and homosexuality. Her first novel, Ripples in the Pool (1975), appeared as number 203 in the Heinemann African Writers Series.
Her earliest works were published under the name "Rebecca Njaū", and she also used the pseudonym "Marina Gashe".
Biography
Early life
Rebeka Njaū was born in 1932 in the village of Kanyariri, in Kiambu County to the northwest of Nairobi. Her family was Christian and she recalled the division this created with those around them:It was interesting for us, especially in our home, because we were surrounded by people [that] we would call primitive. They circumcised their girls. In our home my parents were Christians. It's like we lived in two countries because we were separated by traditions. We had nothing to do with one another.Her mother's stance against female genital mutilation bought her into contact with the Mau Mau:She was such a brave woman and [the] Mau Mau wanted to kill her.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19573358. VIAF identifies the subject as 17238536. The Library of Congress control number is n85214629. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1932 and 1975.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rebeka Njau” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.