Devil on the Cross

THE NOVEL NGŨGĨ WROTE IN PRISON ON TOILET PAPER, and the first modern novel written in GĨKŨYŨ — Caitaani Mũtharaba-inĩ — then translated by the author into English. The imprint page records the sequence exactly: “First published in Gĩkũyũ by Heinemann Educational Books (East Africa) Ltd. 1980. First published in the African Writers Series in 1982. Reprinted 1983, 1985, 1986. First published in this edition, 1987” — this copy. Copyright 1982; ISBN 0-435-90844-8. Dedicated “To all Kenyans struggling against the neo-colonial stage of imperialism”. For a library built on African-language publishing, this is the single most important Ngũgĩ title on the shelf: the book that put his decision to abandon English into practice.