Utenzi wa vita vya uhuru, composed by the noted and prolific Tanzanian author, Shaaban Robert, is possibly the longest utenzi poem ever written. In 3,000 stanzas, Robert recounts the events of World War II from the German invasion of Czechoslovakia…
The nineteenth century saw the rise of a written poetic tradition that moved toward the secular, with everyday issues of social and political interest captured in verse. Perhaps the most notable poet whose works exemplified this trend was Muyaka wa…
Set in Zanzibar in 1961, shortly before the revolution of 1964 that put an end to the wealth and privilege of the upper class. Written by a noted Zanzibari novelist whose family perished in the revolution. He later moved to Nairobi where he resumed…
Utendi wa Mwana Kupona [Mwana Kupona’s Poem] is one of the most popular poems in Kiswahili literature. It was written around 1858 by Mwana Kupona binti Mshamu (c. 1810-1860) for her daughter, Mwana Hashima binti Sheikh (1841-1933). Didactic in…
Utendi wa kutawafu Nabii, a characteristic example of the utenzi tradition in its early expression, commemorates the life of the prophet and includes his final message to the faithful before being visited by the angel of death. The poem exemplifies…
Utendi wa kutawafu Nabii, a characteristic example of the utenzi tradition in its early expression, commemorates the life of the prophet and includes his final message to the faithful before being visited by the angel of death. The poem exemplifies…
A story with a clear realistic slant of a poor family forced to live in grinding poverty by the social inequalities of present-day Tanzania. The main character is a child who, not knowing his father, struggles for identity and respect.
Swahili translation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Interestingly, in the illustration appearing on the cover as well as those throughout the text, Alice is depicted as an African girl.