Kenyan author, Binyavanga Wainaina brings his colourful personality to this interview held on the sidelines of the Port Harcourt Book Festival. He talks about how winning the Caine Prize has impacted on his life and writing, his thoughts on the future of books and what he considers ‘evil’ in the writing business. This is vintage Binyavanga.

Binyavanga Wainaina, shall we start with your controversial view on books . . .

Which controversial views now?

You mentioned in a panel discussion that print books are a dead item. How would you justify that statement?

Ah! (laughs) I am still struggling to understand how that view is controversial at all. We are now in 2013. In 2005, I had lunch with the then New York Times editor who told me the growth rate for subscription for the newspaper had gone to zero for people under 30.  That was…