Outline of Swahili Literature: Prose Fiction and Drama

Outline of Swahili Literature is a major study and reference guide of modern prose and drama in Swahili -- one of the largest languages of sub-Saharan Africa. This second edition of the eponymous study first published in 1989, is extensively revised and enlarged. It contains new and updated information, mapping trends and writers. Special attention is thereby given to the developments in Swahili literature that took place in the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. All this makes this book a unique source and the most up-to-date study in the field. It is of the essence not only to specialists in contemporary African Studies, but also to a wider range of scholars researching modern literary techniques and modern cultures. Moreover, the book contains a resourceful bio-bibliographical index of modern Swahili writers and an annotated bibliography of all known works in Swahili modern prose and drama published from the late 1950s up to 2008.

Elena Bertoncini Zúbková, /b> is Professor of Swahili Language and Literature at the University of Naples ’L’Orientale’ in Italy. She has published extensively on modern Swahili literature, stylistics and discourse analysis.

Mikhail D. Gromov, Ph.D. (1993), Doctor of Letters (2005) in Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences, is currently the Associate Professor of Swahili and Literature at the United States International University in Nairobi. He has published a number of works on modern Swahili literature.

Said A.M. Khamis is Professor of African Literatures in African languages at the University of Bayreuth Germany. He has taught in a number of academic institutions, a.o. in Zanzibar, Eldoret and Nairobi (Kenya) and in Osaka (Japan). He has written extensively on Swahili structure and linguistics, Swahili literature and culture, and has published creative works, including poetry, plays, novels and short stories.

Kyallo Wadi Wamitila, Ph.D. (1999), University of Bayreuth, is a Researcher and Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi. He has published extensively on Swahili Literature and Language. Among his many publications are his three novels that have won him The Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature: Nguvu ya Sala (2001), Musaleo! (2005) and Msimu wa Vipepeo (2007).