Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize winners for Mombasa on August 16

The Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize 2024 winners will be hosted at a forum in Mombasa, Kenya, on Saturday, August 16, 2025.

The Safal Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature celebrates writing in poetry and prose in the Kiswahili language since 2015’s first winners. Founded by Dr Mukoma Wa Ngugi and Dr Lizzy Attree, it is supported by Safal Group, through its subsidiaries Mabati Rolling Mills of Kenya and ALAF Tanzania, in partnership with Cornell University. Mayassa Abdallah Chembea, Ali Othman Masoud, Bashiru Abdallah, Mohamed Idrisa, and Edwin Omindo, the 2024 winners in prose, poetry, and short stories, were revealed in a glittering ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on June 4, 2025.

The Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize winners will be hosted to “Tamasha la Waandishi wa Kiswahili” (English: Swahili Writers’ Forum) at the Alliance Francaise in Mombasa on Saturday, August 16. The chief guest will be the chairman of the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize, the legendary poet and academic Abdilatif Abdalla. The featured winners and runners-up will be Mayasa Abdallah Chembea, Ali Othman Masoud, and Bashiru Abdallah, who will come from Tanzania, while Edwin Omindo will represent Kenya.

The event is organised by SHIWAKI (Shirika la Waandishi wa lugha ya Kiswahili) (English: Kiswahili Language Writers’ Association), an organisation that trains writers, publishes journals, and hosts events since they were founded by Fatma Shafii in 2022. It is done in conjunction with the Swahilipot Hub.

For Mombasa residents who want to experience some of the best writing in Kiswahili, they are recommended to register for the event as space is limited.

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