Shaaban bin Robert
On 20 June 1962, Tanzanian poet, author, and essayist, Shaaban bin Robert, died in Dar es Salam at the age of 53. 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."
Shaaban was born in 1909 at village of Vibamba, Tangasisi ward of Tanga District, Tanzania (then German East Africa). After receiving the school certificate, Shaaban worked at various posts as a colonial government civil servant. From 1926 to 1944 he was a customs official at different locations throughout the territory including one post at Kwale Island in current day Mkuranga District of Pwani Region. From 1944 to 1946 he worked for the Game Department. From 1946 to 1952 he worked in the Tanga District Office, and from 1952 to 1960 he was in the Survey Office there.
Shaaban's work ranges from poetry to essay and didactic tale. In addition to his poems and tales, Robert produced an autobiography, Maisha yangu (1949; “My Life”), and a biography, Maisha ya Siti Binti Saad, mwimbaji wa Unguja (1958; “Life of Siti Binti Saad, Poetess of Zanzibar”). During his lifetime he received the Margaret Wrong Prize and Medal for African Literature and was honored by the British government as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.).
(Source: Wikipedia)
Selected publications
Mdhihiriko na Dhima za Usimulizi Katizi katika Riwaya Teule za Shaaban Robert: Kufikirika, Kusadikika na Adili na Nduguze / J.P. Madoshi.
In: Utafiti, 16(1), 44-62 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1163/26836408-15020041
Taswira Za Ndege Katika Maandiko Ya Shaaban Robert / Ahmad Kipacha.
In: SWAHILI FORUM 22 (2015): 1-19
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/226117001.pdf
Maisha yangu na Baada ya miaka hamsini / Shaaban bin Robert. - Dar es Salaam : Mkuki na Nyota, 1991
Kufikirika / Shaaban bin Robert. - Dar es Salaam : Mkuki na Nyota, 1991
The poetry of Shaaban Robert / Clement Ndulute. - Dar es Salaam : Dar es Salaam University Press, cop. 1994
The contribution of the Swahili writer Shaaban Robert to the development of East African thought / Viacheslav Misiugin.
In: St. Petersburg journal of African studies , no. 1, p. 60-82 (1993)
The Rise of Swahili Literature and the oeuvre of Shaaban bin Robert / Géza Füssi Nagy.
In: Neohelicon (Budapest), 1989, Vol.16 (2), p.39-58
Wasifu wa Siti binti Saad / Shaaban bin Robert. - London [etc.], 1974
Utenzi wa vita vya uhuru 1939 hata 1945 / Shaaban bin Robert. - Nairobi [etc.], 1967
Pambo La Lugha / Shaaban bin Robert. - Johannesburg : Witwatersrand University Press, 1948
Jenerali Ulimwengu - Kursasa za vitabu KUSADIKIKA by Shabaan Robert
Timeline of Swahili-language writers via DBpedia and WIkidata
Posted on 20 June 2023, last modified on 19 June 2023