Kiswahili Contemporary Literature

Anna Manyanza was born and raised in Tanzania. She is a writer most notably in her mother tongue, Kiswahili, but also in German. Her debut novel, “Penzi la Damu,” won the prestigious Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature in 2015.

Ms. Manyanza holds a Master’s degree in Political Science, Comparative Literature, and Media Science from Leibniz Universität, Hannover, Germany. She was part of the World Model United Nations in Cambridge (UK), Greece, Turkey, and Germany, where she discussed pressing world issues such as debt relief, climate change, and globalization.

Ms. Manyanza’s short stories have appeared in the anthologies “Vazi la Mhudumu” and “Imbiza Journal for African Writing.” She also writes children’s books in English, Kiswahili, and German. “Little Black Cappy” is her debut children’s picture book; it has been translated into Kiswahili (Kakofia Keusi), German (Schwarzkäppchen), and French (Le Petit Chaperon Noir).

Ms. Manyanza’s hobbies include playing djembe, reading historical novels, collecting African art, and being in the woods. She currently resides in Switzerland with her family.

Awarded the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature in 2018, author Jacob Ngumbau Julius has written several Swahili manuscripts, including his award-winning poetry anthology “Moto wa Kifuu,” meaning “Fire of the Coconut Shell.” This anthology, among others, is being published at Mkuki na Nyota Publishers in Tanzania.

A native of Nairobi, Kenya, Mr. Julius works in the sector of mass communication and received his degree from the Kenya Institute of Professional Studies (KIPS College). He is currently a freelancing English author, a Swahili translator, and a voice actor.

Tanzania native Lello Mmassy has an educational background in economics. He received his MBA in Logistics and Supply Chain from Eaton Business School Dubai. A logistician by profession dealing with last-mile delivery and operation management over the past eight years, Mr. Mmassy is experienced working with multinational and multicultural companies with performance excellence recognition both in and outside of the country. He is currently working with SBC Tanzania Ltd (Pepsi) in the capacity of Senior Logistics Manager with a span of work covering distribution and fleet management.

Mr. Mmassy is passionate about writing and reading, especially stories with themes on diplomacy, good governance, and intelligence. He is the author of two fiction stories and the winner of several literary awards across East Africa, including the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize in 2019. Mr. Mmassy is married and is blessed with two daughters.

Menansili Abraham Mejooli originally comes from Arusha, Tanzania. He is fluent in the Swahili, Maasai, Chinese/Mandarin, and English languages. He volunteered to do Swahili-to-English translation in Tanzania for two years prior to coming to the U.S. He also did English-to-Chinese translation, both written and spoken, for six months while working for an American-owned manufacturing plant in Shanghai, China.

Currently, Mr. Mejooli is finishing up his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University, where he designs new advanced optical microscopes for live imaging conducted during studies of human diseases. He completed his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation at Shanghai University in China, where the entire program was offered in the Chinese language as a medium of instruction.

Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ is an author, poet, and Associate Professor of Literatures in English at Cornell University. His works include “The Rise of the African Novel: Politics of Language, Identity and Ownership” and the novels “Mrs. Shaw,” “Black Star Nairobi,” “Nairobi Heat,” and “Unbury Our Dead With Song” (May 2021), as well as two books of poetry and numerous political columns for African and international publications. In 2014, Professor Ngũgĩ co-founded the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature with the goal of recognizing writing in African languages and encouraging translation from, between, and into African languages. He has been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing and the Penguin Prize for African Writing; in 2013, NewAfrican magazine named him one of their 100 Most Influential Africans. The son of world-renowned African writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Professor Ngũgĩ holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

N’Dri Thérèse Assié-Lumumba is the Director of the Institute for African Development (IAD) and Professor of African and African Diaspora Education, Comparative and International Education, Social Structures, African Social History, and the Study of Gender in the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University. She is also a member of other Cornell graduate fields: Education, Global Development (International Development; International Agriculture and Rural Development), and the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs (CIPA). Professor Assié-Lumumba joined Cornell in 1991, both as a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow and Ford Foundation/Africana Studies Fellow. She served as Director of the Cornell Program on Gender and Global Change (GGC) and as Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) of Africana Studies.

Professor Assié-Lumumba has been president of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) since 2016, chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Programme for the Management of Social Transformations (MOST), founding president of Global Africa Comparative and International Education Society, and former president of Comparative and International Education Society (CIES).