John Kiriamiti | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 14, 1950 Thuita Village, Kenya |
| Occupation(s) | Writer Former bank robber |
| Known for | Writing books on his criminal career |
John Kiriamiti (born 14 February 1950) is a Kenyan former bank robber[1] turned writer.[2] Born in Thuita Village,[3] Kamacharia Location of Murang'a District in Central Kenya, he is the second of the nine children of Albert and Anne Wanjiru Kiriamiti, both primary school teachers in Murang'a.[3]
Kiriamiti is best known as the writer of My Life in Crime[4] and My Life with a Criminal: Milly's Story, which were both a sensation among Kenyan youth in the late 1980s and '90s.
In the years after his release from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, he has also become a renowned philanthropist and social reformist rehabilitating street children and thieves in his rural Murang'a home. Besides writing novels, Kiriamiti owns and edits a newspaper, The Sharpener, which he established after the government ban on the Gikuyu version, Inooro, in 1995.[5]
