By BAMUTURAKI MUSINGUZI

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Zainab Alwi Baharoon from Tanzania and Jacob Ngumbau Julius from Kenya have won top accolades at the 2018 Mabati Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature.

Baharoon won the fiction category for her novel Mungu Hakopeshwi (God doesn’t borrow.)

“In Mungu Hakopeshwi, Zainab Alwi Baharoon, has used the standard Unguja Swahili masterfully. The language used flows so effortlessly that the reader can also have fun while reading.

“The overriding issue handled in this work is women’s struggles against the backdrop of male chauvinism and domination where the women find themselves at the bottom rung of the societal ladder,” the judges said.

The poetry award was won by Julius for his collection titled Moto wa Kifuu (fire of the coconut shell).

“In Moto wa Kifuu, the author’s language is superb and flows smoothly. The poet, Jacob Ngumbau Julius, is well-versed in the use of similes and metaphors. He has used Swahili poetic devices including three and four line stanzas, and the popular double-line tenzi formation,” the judges said.

The awards ceremony was held in Dar es Salaam on February 15. Baharoon and Julius received a cash prize of $5,000 each.

Mungu Hakopeshwi beat Kilinge cha Hukumu ya Dhambi, by Yasini Hamisi Shekibulah from Tanzania and Makovu ya Uhai, by Shisia Wasilwa from Kenya in the fictional category shortlist.

Moto wa Kifuu beat Wino wa Dhahabu, by Bashiru Abdallah from Tanzania and Sauti Yangu, by Mohamed Idrisa Haji from Tanzania in the poetry category shortlist.

The 2018 judges were Ahmad Kipacha, a lecturer from the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology in Tanzania, Natalie Arnold Koenings, a Kiswahili and English literary translator and anthropologist at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, and Rocha Chimerah, a professor of Kiswahili linguistics at Pwani University in Kilifi.

The prize was founded in 2014 by Lizzy Attree and Mukoma Wa Ngugi to recognise writing in African languages.