ALAF UNVEILS PUBLISHED BOOKS FOR KISWAHILI AWARD WINNERS

Alaf Tanzania Brand Manager, Salwa Omari (fourth left) handing over to the University of Dar es Salaam’s Acting Vice Chancellor-Research, Prof. Nelson Boniface 200 publications for winners of the Safal-Cornell Prize for African Literature 2022 that will be used at the University library. Others from left are Senior Lecturer - UDSM Dr. Mussa Hans, one of the authors - Hafidh Kido, UDSM library representative - Magreth Bwathondi, the Director of the Institute of Kiswahili Studies - Prof. Shani Omari Mchepange and the Alaf External Affairs Officer - Theresia Mmasy.

• Donates to institutions of higher learning to promote literature

Safal Group, which is the mother company of Alaf Tanzania and Mabati Rollings Mills in Kenya, has made its promise true by publishing works of the winners of the Safal-Cornell Prize for African Literature 2022.

Apart from the $5,000 given by Safal Group, that each of the top winners in the Fiction and Poetry categories walked home with and $2,500 that went to the first runners up in each category, the rolling mills company in East Africa, usually publishes works of the winners every year as a way of promoting literature within the region

The Alaf Tanzania Brand Manager, Salwa Omari said that 2,000 copies of the winners works were published and will be distributed to various institutions of higher learning in order to promote literature and inculcate a reading culture among students.

She made the remarks while handing over 200 of the 2,000 books to the University of Dar es Salaam’s library and noted that they will also donate to other institutions.

She said Alaf realizes the importance of Kiswahili is significant in promoting Tanzania as a country and believes that UDSM has a big role in advancing the language and doing more research to enhance its use.

“We have published 500 copies for each of the winners of the 2022 Awards and we are presenting 50 copies of each of the four authors publications hence making it 200 for UDSM only,” she said.

The authors and their publications include, Halfani Sudy- Kirusi kipya, Idrissa Haji Abdalla- Kilio cha Mwanamke, John Wanyonyi- Safari ya Matumaini and Lucas Lubango-Bweni ya Wasichana.

She further noted that Safal Group is committed to promoting literature in the country hence the reason for sponsoring the event alongside the African Studies Centre at Cornell University in the USA and the Ngugi wa Thinng’o Foundation.

The books were published by Mkuki and Nyota, one of the renowned publishers in the country that has also had a rich history with the Awards as the official publisher of the winning manuscripts.

Commenting after receiving the books, the UDSM Acting Vice Chancellor-Research Prof. Nelson Boniface thanked Alaf Tanzania and Mabati Rolling Mills for organizing the awards each year and ensuring the works were published to give other people especially students and other upcoming writers the chance to read the winning manuscripts and emulating the exemplary work.

“This will also ensure that the winners get an income out of this. You have greatly empowered them and given them the urge to produce more content for public consumption,” he said.

He called on the students at UDSM to make good use of the donated books to enrich their literature skills and also aim to be good writers.

The Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature was founded in 2014 by Dr. Lizzy Attree and Dr. Mukoma Wa Ngugi to recognize writing in African languages and encourage translation from, between, and into African languages.