Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's name gets thrown into the ring every time the Nobel Prize committee convenes to select the year's winner. And for good reason. Known early on for his great plays, The Black Hermit and This Time Tomorrow, the Kenyan genius went on to lead postcolonial thinking with books such as Decolonising the Mind and Moving the Centre. His 2006 novel, Wizard of the Crow, was released to critical acclaim. The man hasn't stopped since the mid-1960s, and it doesn't look like he plans to. Thiong'o returns to Seattle with a new book of short stories called Minutes of Glory, which begins with the very first story he ever wrote and tracks his long and laureled career from there. Reviews have been mixed, but a chance to see such a captivating storyteller in the flesh is not to be missed. by Rich Smith