A look at the growth and development of East African literature in 2023, including the first ever Kiswahili translation of Abdulrazak Gurnah's Paradise.
East African literature continues to grow and reshape itself in exciting new ways – and 2023 was no exception. The world really did take notice of the region when Tanzanian-British author Abdulrazak Gurnah won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021. Interest in Gurnah’s work continued last year when he made a homecoming to east Africa. But it is in Tanzania that Gurnah made a proper homecoming in 2023 – through the first ever Kiswahili translation of Paradise , now out as Peponi.
I am an interdisciplinary scholar with a research focus that cuts across journalism, creative writing, African literature and postcolonial studies. I’m also a big reader of books from the region. My highlights of 2023 range from the masterful Gurnah to stunning newcomers, a bold biography to a pacy memoir. 1. Abdulrazak Gurnah in Kiswahili Now aged 74, Gurnah has recently headlined a literary festival in Kenya which seeks to foster conversations between and among Anglophone (English-speaking) and Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) Afric
East African Literature Abdulrazak Gurnah Kiswahili Translation Paradise Growth Development