Alaf unveils 2000 published books for Kiswahili Awards 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 varsity library.
Dar es Salaam. Safal Group a parent company of Alaf Tanzania has revealed that it has supported the publication of 2000 copies of literature works for the 2022 winners of the Safal-Cornell Prize for African Literature.
This was part of the prize for winning the competition as the company usually publishes the works of the winners every year as a way of promoting literature within the region.
The Alaf Tanzania Brand Manager, Salwa Omari said the published work 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 2000 books to the University of Dar es Salaam’s library.
“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,” Ms Omari said.
The Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature is an annual even 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.
The last year’s winning 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.
Commenting after receiving the books, the UDSM Acting Vice Chancellor-Research Prof Nelson Boniface commended the company 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.
