William E. Mkufya aliyezaliwa mwaka 1953 wilayani Lushoto, Tanga, nchini Tanzania ni mmojawapo wa waandishi wakongwa wa riwaya ya Kiswahili. Hadi hii leo amechapisha riwaya nne. Aidha, ameandika vitabu kumi na viwili vya watoto na kutafsiri baadhi ya vitabu, kama vile riwaya ya Kiu ya Mohamd Suleiman Mohamed. Riwaya za Ziraili na Zirani na Ua la Faraja zimeshinda Tuzo la Fasihi ya Kitaifa Tanzania katika kiwango cha Muswada Bora wa Riwaya mnamo 1999 na 2001. Katika mazungumzo haya yaliyofanyika tarehe 29 Januari, mwaka 2004, huko TYCS, Upanga, Dar es Salaam tulitia mkazo zaidi kwenye riwaya yake ya kiepiki Ziraili na Zirani (1999).

Gabriel Ruhumbika aliyezaliwa mwaka 1938 kisiwani Ukerewe ni miongoni mwa wanafasihi waliokubuhu katika fani ya riwaya za Kiswahili. Sasa ametuletea riwaya hii ya aina yake Janga sugu la wazawa (2002). Kwa jumla, riwaya hii linaakisi hali halisi ya mfumo wa maisha ya Wakerewe kwa kuwalinganisha na jamii inayokizunguka kisiwa cha Ukerewe, mintarafu imani za jadi na jinsi Ukristo ulivyoathiri misingi hiyo. Hali kadhalika, riwaya hii linasisitiza umuhimu wa kuzingatia kuthamini tamaduni, mila na desturi na maadili mema katika jamii.

Kyallo Wadi Wamitila aliyezaliwa mwaka 1966 mjini Machakos nchini Kenya ni mwandishi anayeandika katika tanzu za ushairi, tamthilia, hadithi fupi na riwaya. Aidha, ameandika vitabu kadhaa vya watoto. Katika mahojano haya mafupi yaliyofanyika tarehe 03.11.2004 kwa njia za baruapepe tulizungumzia riwaya yake ya pili Bina-Adamu! (2002). Riwaya hii ni juzuu ya kwanza ya trilojia ambayo imeendelezwa na Musaleo! Juzuu ya tatu itaitwa Pumzi za Kovu.

Adam Shafi aliyezaliwa mwaka 1940 kisiwani Unguja ni mmojawapo wa waandishi mashuhuri wa riwaya ya Kiswahili. Hivi sasa mwandishi yumo mbioni kukamilisha muswada wa riwaya yake ya sita iitwayo Mtoto wa Mama. Mbali na uandishi, Adam Shafi aliwahi kufanya kazi mbalimbali za uandishi wa habari na kazi za ushirika wa kimataifa. Ni furaha yetu kubwa kuwa hatimaye tunaweza kutoa mazungumzo hayo baada ya kuyapitia na kuyahariri kidogo tu, kwa vile tunaamini utamu wa lugha inavyozungumzwa katika hali halisi ya maisha una nguvu ya kiujumi inayoweza kumvutia msomaji zaidi.

The novel Ziraili na Zirani, by W. Mkufya, is characterised by the constant recurrence of themes featuring in theodicy, the philosophical ‘vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil’ (Oxford dictionaries online). The themes which emerge from the characters’ conversations throughout the novel provide a constant confrontation of arguments to support or refute the existence of God. This paper aims to analyse the novel from a philosophical perspective, in order to clarify and emphasise the connection between the ideas and words employed by the characters, and the theories of Western philosophers such as St. Anselm, Thomas Aquinas and Leibnitz. The focus on these particular philosophical aspects contributes to a deeper understanding of the novel as a whole.

The study focuses on the use of various languages including Swahili by the author Moyez G. Vassanji against the English background of his works, by concentrating on two of his ´African´ novels, namely The Gunny Sack and The In-Between World of Vikram Lall. In his novels, Vassanji uses multiple literary devices involving the use of different languages, such as code switching and code shifting among others. The paper analyses the use of these various ´language-mixing´ devices in his novels from a literary point of view. A set of literary instruments allow the author to attain various tasks, such as creating ´local colour´, restoring social relationships, and also expressing the characters´ search for new identity, as well as reflecting the author´s own background as a multi-cultural person and writer.

Sifa mojawapo ya umahiri wa Shaaban Robert ni namna anavyounda katika maandiko yake taswira mbalimbali za viumbe wenye mbawa kama vile ndege wakubwa ‘wahamao’, ndege waimbao, malaika na wadudu, kwa minajili ya kuwajengea wasomaji wake motifu za upazo, ukwezi na safari. Wahakiki mbalimbali wameusadifu ufundi wake wa kuunda taswira za kisitiari na ishara katika fasihi ya Kiswahili kwa ujumla. Hata hivyo, uchunguzi wa hakiki zao kifani una mapengo haswa katika kubaini taswira na ishara zitokanazo na kiumbe ndege. Makala haya yanachambua namna Robert anavyotanabaisha kanikinzani mbalimbali kupitia taswira za ndege. Robert amefuzu kuchota taswira za ndege kutoka katika mitholojia ya ndege ya wanajamii wake ili kuwagusa kisitiari wasomaji wake. / One of the key aspects of Shaaban Robert’s artistic techniques is his remarkable molding of winged creature images in the form of extraordinary migratory birds, songbirds, angels and winged termites to infuse the motif of ascendance, progress and journey. So far critics of Robert’s works have given this significant artistic tool a very low prominence in spite of its recurrence in his writings. This paper argues that Robert devulges two opposing forces through scary bird imagery. Robert successfully displays his creative artistry by supplanting the bird mythology drawn from the reservoir of folkloric knowledge of his people to appeal metaphorically to his readers’ senses.

The depiction of family ties is one of the core elements of Swahili novels in Tanzania, especially in the post-Independence, socialist period, conveying all the contradictions of that social and cultural context. On one hand the representation of family relationships in terms of tense and aggressive behaviour (Mlacha 1987: 82) reflects the clashes of those years, between town and countryside, between genders and between different generations. On the other hand, the image of a new family - like for instance Chonya, Masika and her baby in Ndyanao Balisidya’s novel Shida (1975) - stands as a commitment to an alternative society, a dream of a better life inspired by Ujamaa which marked the Swahili prose of the 1970’s (Mbughuni 1980: 92). Said A. Mohamed, after his first novels which dealt with the colonial and pre-revolutionary past, turned his attention to contemporary society, but has continued to develop the idea of the family as a symbolic space where relationships between the characters articulate the inequalities and the conflicts within Zanzibari society. His literary discourse, as will become clear in the following pages, brilliantly investigates the deep roots and the countless facets of authoritarianism in contemporary Zanzibari society, depicting a gallery of fathers - in a biological and in a metaphorical sense – who are despotic, immoral, hypocritical, and increasingly cynical.

\"Are there any national literatures in black Africa yet? The simple answer is no. [...] If one examines the development of the African language literature that do exists, one is struck by certain recurring tendencies. Many of the books produced, particularly the early works, are of a predominantly moralistic nature. Sometimes they are retelling of folk stories or Bible stories, sometimes imitations of European religious literature, sometimes both.\\\" (Lindfors 1997: 121; 123) Certain anomalies are obvious in the above extract. Swahili written literature with its long-standing tradition, dating far back to the 17th century, has relativly gathered its own aesthetic criteria, values and sensibility, hence \\\''own\\\'' integrity and world view. I dare say that Lindfors will be suprised to learn today, how fast the Swahili novel has developed since when he had left it when he read Andrzejewski et al (1985) and Gérard (1981), who (by the way), themselves did not then see the their works as presenting a complete picture of African literatures in African languages. This essay aims at showing the predicament of the Swahili novelist at the crossroads and how, in a contemporary situation, s/he works out his or her strategies towards resolving the impasses.

The bilingual Tanzanian writer William Eliezer Mkufya was born on the 18th of June 1953 in Tanga region. Mkufya is a self-trained writer as he had a scientific education. Ua la Faraja (The flower of consolation) won the TEPUSA best manuscript award in 2001 and was published in 2004. it is supposed to be the first part of the trilogy Maua (Flowers) in which the author commits himself to the fight against the plague of AIDS in the context of the existentialist philosophy. In more than 400 pages he presents several persons affected by this frightening disease and even if no one recovers his or her health, the author did not sink into pessimism, but presents a sign of hope, or rather a `flower of consolation`. Mkufya returns with Ua la Faraja to the realistic novel, assuming the traditional role of a teacher. Although his main concern is to convey a message explaining how to face the calamity that is affecting Africa more severely than any other part of the world, he has achieved it with an anti-melodramatic approach and with great skill.