// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Shafi Adam Shafi a baker? He kneads the name.
Shafi Adam Shafi | |
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| Born | 1940 (age 85–86) Unguja, Zanzibar |
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| Language | Swahili |
| Notable works |
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Shafi Adam Shafi (also published as Adam Shafi Adam; born 1940) is a Tanzanian novelist and journalist who writes in Swahili. His fiction addresses the social and political history of Zanzibar, including colonialism, the Zanzibar Revolution and its aftermath. His novel Vuta N'kuvute (1999) was adapted as the 2021 film Tug of War.
Early life and education
[edit]Shafi was born in 1940 on Unguja, the largest island in the Zanzibar Archipelago, to a family of Comorian origin. He attended Seyyid Khalifa Teacher Training College, later Nkrumah College, from 1957 to 1960 and subsequently studied in China and East Germany.[1]
In the autobiographical narrative Mbali na Nyumbani, Shafi described how watching ships from the college and the death of his friend Mohammed Masoud Seif strengthened his wish to travel abroad. He earned money for the journey by washing and ironing clothes for other students.[2]
Career
[edit]From 1967 to 1972, Shafi worked as a journalist for newspapers of the Tanganyika African National Union. After the assassination of Zanzibar's president Abeid Karume in 1972, he was imprisoned for two years because of his opposition to Karume's government.[1] In 1986, he joined the East, Central and Southern African branch of the International Co-operative Alliance and became responsible for its monthly magazine, The Cooperator.[1]
Shafi began writing books in 1968. His first novel, Kasri ya Mwinyi Fuad, was published in 1978 after an earlier version of the manuscript had been rejected and revised.[3] The novel depicts the Zanzibar Revolution, while his second novel, Kuli (1979), concerns labour organization in colonial Zanzibar.[1]
His third novel, Vuta N'kuvute (1999), is set in Zanzibar before the revolution and centres on Yasmin, an Indian Zanzibari woman who leaves an arranged marriage. Literary scholar Fuko Onoda contrasts the novel's treatment of relations between African and non-African communities with the depiction of the revolution in Kasri ya Mwinyi Fuad.[1] Vuta N'kuvute became a set book in Tanzanian secondary schools around 2000.[1]
Haini (2002) drew on Shafi's imprisonment, and Mbali na Nyumbani (2013) recounted his journey from Zanzibar.[1] He later published the novel Mtoto wa Mama in 2018.[4]
Director Amil Shivji and Jenna Bass adapted Vuta N'kuvute for the film Tug of War. It was the first Tanzanian film selected for the Toronto International Film Festival, where it premiered in September 2021.[5] Tanzania later submitted the film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.[6]
Shafi has compiled Swahili dictionaries and has held leadership positions in Tanzanian writers' organizations. He received the Zeze Award from the Tanzania Culture Trust Fund in 2002 for his contributions to Swahili language and literature.[1]
Selected works
[edit]- Kasri ya Mwinyi Fuad (1978)
- Kuli (1979)
- Vuta N'kuvute (1999)
- Haini (2002)
- Mbali na Nyumbani (2013)
- Mtoto wa Mama (2018)
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Onoda, Fuko (2025). "Why Is the Zanzibar Revolution Not Depicted?: Comparison of Swahili Author Shafi Adam Shafi's Two Novels" (PDF). In Suzuki, Hideaki; Mio, Minoru (eds.). "Gyres", Indian Ocean and Beyond: Discovering the Indian Ocean World. Senri Ethnological Studies. Vol. 114. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology. pp. 147–161. doi:10.15021/0002000342. ISBN 978-4-910055-16-9. ISSN 0387-6004. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
- ↑ Shafi, Adam. "Far from Home". Asymptote. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
- ↑ "Shafi Adam Shafi: Galacha wa fasihi anayelia na uharamia wa vitabu". Mwananchi (in Swahili). 10 March 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
- ↑ Shafi, Adam (2018). Mtoto wa Mama. Longhorn Publishers (Kenya). ISBN 9789966315793. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
- ↑ Vourlias, Christopher (12 September 2021). "Tanzania's Amil Shivji on Love and Resistance in Toronto Film Festival Period Drama 'Tug of War'". Variety. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
- ↑ Ismail, Ramadhani (23 September 2022). "Vuta N'kuvute: The road to 2023 Academy Awards". The Citizen. Dar es Salaam. Retrieved 19 July 2026.