Swahili, also known by its native name Kiswahili, is a Bantu language and the native language of the Swahili people. It is a lingua franca of the African Great Lakes region and other parts of East and Southern Africa, including Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, some parts of Malawi, Somalia, Zambia, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Comorian, spoken in the Comoros Islands, is sometimes considered a dialect of Swahili, although other authorities consider it a distinct language. Sheng is a mixture of Swahili and English commonly spoken in Kenya and parts of Uganda.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan writer and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mũtĩiri. His short story The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright, is translated into 94 languages from around the world.
Sheng is a Swahili and English-based cant, perhaps a mixed language or creole, originating among the urban youth of Nairobi, Kenya, and influenced by many of the languages spoken there. While primarily a language of urban youths, it has spread across social classes and geographically to neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda.
Shaaban bin Robert, also known as Shaaban Robert, was a Tanzanian poet, author, and essayist who supported the preservation of Tanzanian verse traditions. Robert is celebrated as one of the greatest Tanzanian Swahili thinkers, intellectuals and writers in East Africa and has been called "poet laureate of Swahili" and is also known as the "Father of Swahili." He is also honoured as the national poet.
The Gusii language is a Bantu language spoken in Kisii and Nyamira counties in Nyanza Kenya, whose headquarters is Kisii town,. It is spoken natively by 2.2 million people, mostly among the Abagusii. The Bunchari dialect of the Ekegusii is also spoken among the Kuria as Kuria language and among the Suba people (Tanzania) and some other groups like the Suna-Girango and Simbete as well as other small splinter groups from Abagusii and Kuria in Migori County and Homa Bay County as Egesuba.
Grace Emily Ogot was a Kenyan author, nurse, journalist, politician and diplomat. Together with Charity Waciuma she was the first Anglophone female Kenyan writer to be published. She was one of the first Kenyan members of parliament and she became an assistant minister.
Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ is a Kenyan poet and author. His father is the author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.
African literature is literature of or from Africa and includes oral literature.
Bethwell Allan Ogot is a historian from Kenya. He specialises in African history, research methods and theory. One of his works starts by saying that "to tell the story of a past so as to portray an inevitable destiny is, for humankind, a need as universal as tool-making. To that extent, we may say that a human being is, by nature, historicus.
Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa is a Tanzanian institution responsible with regulating and promoting the Kiswahili language.
Kenyan literature describes literature which comes from Kenya. Kenya has a long oral and written literary tradition, primarily in English and Swahili, the two official languages of the country.
Gakaara wa Wanjaũ was a prolific Gĩkũyu author, historian, editor and publisher from Kenya.
The Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) is a publishing house and state corporation in Kenya founded in 1947. It is located in South-C off Popo Road in Nairobi.
Jared Angira is a Kenyan poet. He has been called "the country's first truly significant poet".
Henry Chakava is a Kenyan publisher. He has focused on the publication of books particularly in East Africa and has been called "the father of Kenyan publishing". For his contribution to educational and cultural literature in his region, he has received several awards.
Austin Bukenya is a Ugandan poet, playwright, novelist and academic administrator. He is the author of the novel The People's Bachelor, and a play, The Bride. He has taught languages, literature and drama at Makerere University in Uganda and universities in the UK, Tanzania and Kenya since the late 1960s. He has also held residences at universities in Rwanda and Germany. Bukenya is also a literary critic, novelist, poet and dramatist. An accomplished stage and screen actor, he was for several years Director of the Creative and Performing Arts Centre at Kenyatta University, Nairobi.
Dr. Kimani Njogu is Kenyan linguist known for his role in study and advocacy of Kiswahili language.
Farouk Mohamedhusein Tharia Topan is the director of the Swahili Centre at the Aga Khan University. He is a specialist in the language and literature of the Swahili people. He has taught at the University of Dar es Salaam, the Institute of Ismaili Studies, and the School of Oriental and African Studies.
The East African Publishing House (EAPH) was a publishing company established in Nairobi in 1965. It was the first indigenous publishing firm in East Africa.
