The half-brother of U.S. President Barack Obama is promoting a semi-autobiographical novel at a book fair in the Chinese financial hub of Shanghai this week.

Mark Ndesandjo's novel, “Nairobi to Shenzhen,” is the tale of a man born in Kenya to an abusive father, written in diary form.

Ndesandjo is a resident of the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where he works as a consultant and is involved in charity projects.

He is the son of the elder Barack Obama and his third wife. The senior Obama was killed in 1982 in a car accident in Kenya.

President Obama recounts his father's absence during much of childhood in his autobiography, Dreams from My Father.