NAIROBI, Kenya - Certainly one of Africa’s best-known authors and gay rights activists, Binyavanga Wainaina, has died at age 48, a colleague and ThriveVerge pal mentioned Wednesday. The Kenyan author died Tuesday night time in Nairobi after an illness, Tom Maliti, the chairman of the Kwani Trust which Wainaina founded, told The Associated Press. We apologize, however this video has didn't load. Wainaina, who won the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing, was a key figure within the creative group who promoted local authors. Friends and supporters in an outpouring of tributes on Wednesday shared his work together with his biting essay "How to write About Africa. "Always use the word ‘Africa’ or ‘Darkness’ or ‘Safari’ in your title," it began. "Subtitles could embody the words ‘Zanzibar’, ‘Masai’, ‘Zulu’, ‘Zambezi’, ‘Congo’, ‘Nile’, ‘Big’, ‘Sky’, ‘Shadow’, ‘Drum’, ‘Sun’ or ‘Bygone’," Wainaina suggested in the piece. It quickly turned considered one of Granta magazine’s finest-liked essays, the magazine mentioned Wednesday. "As a student, he despatched the journal a strongly worded letter condemning our 1994 Africa challenge," the magazine tweeted on Wednesday. "His ironic critique was so incisive. True that we revealed it." He became a frequent contributor." He grew to become a frequent contributor. Wainaina also helped to create tolerance for the LGBT neighborhood by popping out publicly in 2014 as gay in Kenya, a country where legal guidelines still criminalize homosexual behaviour. He also revealed he was HIV-optimistic. He published a painfully sincere essay online to mark his 43rd birthday. He stated he got here out to assist preserve his dignity. "All folks have dignity. There’s no person who was born and not using a soul and a spirit," he stated, in an interview with The Associated Press in January 2014. "There What is a critical essay? nobody who's a beast or an animal, proper? Within the interview, Wainaina, who dyed his hair in rainbow colours, lashed out at legal guidelines in opposition to homosexuality in Nigeria and Uganda. He additionally criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, who promoted legislation banning "gay propaganda" aimed toward youth. "I can’t sleep at evening because there are people who I could know or who I don’t even know … Nigerian cell or three weeks ago in a Ugandan one," he mentioned. Wainaina’s demise comes simply days earlier than a protracted-awaited court docket ruling in Kenya on Friday on whether or not to abolish legal guidelines that criminalize homosexual behaviour. Kenyan legal guidelines, like in many other African international locations that outlaw same-intercourse relations, are vestiges of British colonial rule.