East African literature continues to grow and reshape itself in exciting new ways – and 2023 was no exception. The world really became aware of the area when Tanzanian-British writer Abdulrazak Gurnah won it Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021. Interest in Gurna’s work continued last year when he returned to east Africa.
But it is to Tanzania that Gurnah made a proper homecoming in 2023 – through his first Kiswahili translation Paradisenow out as Melon.
I am an interdisciplinary scholar with a research focus on journalism, creative writing, African literature and postcolonial studies. I am also a big reader of books from the area. My highlights for 2023 range from the masterful Gurnah to impressive newcomers, a bold biography to a peaceful memoir.
1. Abdulrazak Gurnah in Kiswahili
Now aged 74, Gurnah has recently become a headliner literary festival in Kenya, which seeks to encourage dialogue between and among Anglophone (English-speaking) and Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) Africa. Just the other day in Uganda, his life and work was celebrated by the creative collective Femrite.
But it is in Tanzania that Gurnah made a splash with the first Swahili translation of his Booker Prize-nominated historical fiction, Paradise, now out as Melon.
Indeed, Gurnah’s literary interests have always hovered around East Africa, from the beginning of his Departure Memory, which chronicles the sojourns of a young immigrant seeking an education abroad. Haunted by the life he left behind, and troubled by the uncertainties of new lands, he searches for meaning in his life.
Mkuki Na Nyota
This echoes the author’s own pursuit, after his removal from Zanzibar. In his many interviews, Gurnah argued that migrants do not reach European shores or other shores, with empty hands: they have their own unique stories and histories and ways of seeing the world that should enrich their adopted lands.
But it is Paradise, first published in 1994, that propelled Gurnah to international fame, following her nomination for the Booker Prize that same year. A coming-of-age story of Yusuf, a lad who is pawned off to a merchant to clear his father’s debt, it is a story that is both heartbreaking and captivating.
Some critics read the novel as a retelling of the biblical story of Joseph (Yusuf in Swahili) who was sold captive by his jealous brothers, while others read it as a parody of the Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad‘s Heart of Darkness. Whatever the case, Swahili readers who have not encountered the text in other languages are in for a great treat, and Peponi is a good place to start exploring Gurnah’s work.
2. Kenya’s rising star
![A book cover with an abstract block painting in green, yellow and white.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/565178/original/file-20231212-16-fp8m1l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip)
![A book cover with an abstract block painting in green, yellow and white.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/565178/original/file-20231212-16-fp8m1l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip)
Down River Road
In Kenya, it was the emergence of a new writer, Linda Musitawhich caused excitement.
Her debut book of short stories called Mtama Street has been welcome local.
The seven short stories (though perhaps short-shorts are more appropriate – the book is less than 100 pages) all take place on a street in Nairobi’s Parklands.
The protagonists of Musita’s stories all find themselves forced to navigate various elements of coming of age.
3. Rebirth of biography
After nearly 30 years of obscurity, Kenyan biography appeared to be enjoying a renaissance this year, with the publication of For the record, for history, for purely formal reasons: The Inside Story of Power, Politics, Lawmaking & Leadership in Kenya, ghostwritten for Kenya’s Defense Minister, Aden Duale.
A foreword was written by the Kenyan president, William Ruto, and prefaces the heart of the story: a look at the machinations that define Kenyan politics, with a particularly penetrating look at the fallout between former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and his successor.
As expected, the book found immediate traction with readers soon after its release in mid-2023, following its publication in the local press, with five reprints in six months.
![A book cover with a picture of a smiling African man in a suit and tie.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/565181/original/file-20231212-30-lioj3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip)
![A book cover with a picture of a smiling African man in a suit and tie.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/565181/original/file-20231212-30-lioj3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip)
Aden Duale
Yet Kenyan biography represents a literary oddity: it is often staid and formulaic, parroting a predictable trajectory to explain the successes, never the failures, of politicians and technocrats as they look back on their lives.
In Duale’s For The Record, we come closer to the truth of his political motivations and quest for power, even though we can’t conclude what he intends to do with power now that he’s among the most powerful men in the land.
The vivid narration used in the narrative could help shield readers from the obvious flaws of a story that is labeled as a rags-to-riches legend, even though his merchant parents were people of reasonable means, in their context.
4. Uganda’s action-packed memoir
If the Queen of Buganda’s new memoir is anything to go by, Uganda kicked literary honesty up a notch in 2023. The NnnabagerekaQueen Sylvia Nagginda Luswata, journalist-turned-monarch, recalls her adventurous journey from New York, where she lived most of her childhood, to her unconventional date Prince Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II of Uganda. The tale includes an email proposal.
![A woman poses in profile, reclining and wearing sparkling jewelry and a formal dress with high shoulders.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/565182/original/file-20231212-21-gc11ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip)
![A woman poses in profile, reclining and wearing sparkling jewelry and a formal dress with high shoulders.](https://images.theconversation.com/files/565182/original/file-20231212-21-gc11ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip)
Mahiri Books
“Dear Sylvia, I think I’m ready if you are,” Mutebi reportedly wrote to his wife-to-be. Another elliptical line in the memoir records another milestone thus: “On December 6, 2010, I was blessed with two more girls Jade Nakato and Jasmine Babirye born in Kampala… They are two amazing children.”
The phraseology does not indicate whether they belong to the Kabaka (or the king). A statement from the Buganda king’s office clarified that the twins did not receive the special drum that was rung to announce the Kabaka’s biological children, sparking online speculation about their paternity. The royal family is in the mix as the Kabaka has three more children by three different women.
Hopefully 2024 will be just as vibrant.