Anne Lamont: The Sky Has Already Fallen
Excerpt from Anne Lamont's book, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (1994)
[Scroll down for the English]
KISWAHILI
“Rafiki yangu Carpenter anasema hatuhitaji tena kuambiwa na kwa Chicken Little [Kuku Mdogo*] kwamba ‘anga linaanguka,’ kwa sababu tayari anga limeanguka. Suala sasa ni tunawezaje kutunzana.”
*Chicken Little ni hadithi ya watoto huko ulimwengu wa Magharibi iliyoonya juu ya matokeo ya kuwa ya kuogofya bila sababu nzuri na njia kuliathiria wengine.
- Anne Lamott ni mwalimu wa uandishi anayejulikana kwa ucheshi wake na mbinu upendo wenye kali, mwandishi wa riwaya wa Marekani na wa vitabu visivyo vya kubuniwa [non-fiction] kujumulisha vitabu vitabu zaidi ya ishirini—na anajulikana kwa uchangamfu kama "Mwandishi wa Watu." Ted Talk yake mnamo 2017 kwenye YouTube iko hapa: "Ukweli wa 12 niliojifunza kutoka kwa maisha na uandishi."
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“My friend Carpenter says we no longer need Chicken Little* to tell us the sky is falling, because it already has. The issue now is how to take care of one another.”
*Chicken Little is a children’s story in the Western world that warns against the impact of being alarmist and the way it affects others.
- Anne Lamott is a writing teacher known for her humor and tough-love approach; American novelist and non-fiction author of over twenty books; she is known warmly as “the People’s Author.” Her Ted Talk on Youtube is here: “12 truths I learned from life and writing.”
Asante na tutaonana tena (Thank you and may we see each other again),
Mmerikani
Chanzo (source): Anne Lamont. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1994, page 101 (originally published by Penguin Random House). Kindle Edition.