The Safal Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature 2024 winners were announced in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Thursday, July 3, 2025.
The Safal Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature celebrates writing in poetry and prose in the Kiswahili language. It is supported by Safal Group, through its subsidiaries Mabati Rolling Mills of Kenya and ALAF Tanzania, in partnership with Cornell University. Founded by Dr Mukoma Wa Ngugi and Dr Lizzy Attree, it has been conferred to Fatuma Salim and Philipo Oyaro (2023), Dotto Daudi Rangimoto and Salum Makamba (2022), Halfani Sudy, Moh’d Omar Juma, and Mbwana Kidato (2021), Lello Mmassy and Mohamed Songoro (2019), Zainab Alwi Baharoon and Jacob Ngumbau (2018), Ali Hilal Ali and Dotto Rangimoto (2017), Idrissa Haji Abdalla and Hussein Wamaywa and Ahmed Hussein Ahmed (2016), and Anna Samwel Manyanza and Mohammed K. Ghassani (2015). In 2020, the prize took a hiatus.
The 2024 jury is comprised of Dr Salma Hamad (Open University Tanzania), who chairs alongside Prof Richard Wafula (Kenyatta University) and Dr Caesar Jjingo (Makerere University). They received 210 manuscripts of poetry and prose and the shortlist was revealed by Prof Richard Wafula on behalf of the jury at a media briefing in Nairobi on Thursday, June 26.
The winners were announced at a ceremony at the University of Dar es Salaam attended by, among others, the Tanzanian Minister for Information, Culture, Art, and Sports Prof Palamagamba Kabudi, and ALAF Tanzania CEO Ashish Mistry on Thursday, July 3.
The Chairperson of the 2024 competition judges, Dr Salma Hamad, of the Open University of Tanzania-Zanzibar, said: “The number of entries was overwhelming, but we were well entertained because we read creatively written and crafted manuscripts and learned that there is a huge treasure of Kiswahili literary talents. If developed, Kiswahili literature will not go bankrupt.”
The winners and runner-ups are;
Novels
- Kitanzi cha Mauti, Mayasa Abdallah Chembea (Tanzania) – winner ($5000)
- Nyaraka za Wafu, Ali Othman Masoud (Tanzania) – first runner up ($2500)
Poetry
- Bure Ghali, Bashiru Abdallah (Tanzania) – Winner ($5000)
- Laana ya Uovu, Mohamed Idrisa (Tanzania) – First runner up ($2500)
Short stories
- Mungu Hadanganywi na Hadithi Nyingine, Edwin Omindo (Kenya) ($2500)
In addition to the cash prizes, the winning fiction manuscripts will be published by Mkuki na Nyota Publishers in Tanzania, while the poetry manuscripts will also be translated into English and published by the Africa Poetry Book Fund.
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