Two Nobel Laureates in our region – we are blessed indeed! Wangari Maathai, and now Abdulrazak Gurnah who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in December 2021. The latter is a story of how the trauma of exile and migration has zeroed-in on an East African coastal identity that had hitherto been largely ignored, if not hidden. One writer wonders if the Nobel committee even realizes ‘the force they have unleashed into the world’. Another sees it as an ‘opportunity to map out new worlds that value humanness’. ‘Every word and every thought is considered and exactly shaped’ – Gurnah himself tells us: ‘I write as well as I can to be truthful to the idea I want to put across; to make it beautiful’. And beautiful his stories really are, and so much more…….
Shukran to our guest editors, Ramnik Shah, Karim Murji, Asma Sayed, Tom Maliti and Farah Qureshi who have helped to shape the list of writers for the cover story so as to whet our appetite. We take this opportunity to thank ALL our writers who have continued to support us so consistently over the past two decades. Asante sana!
On a sad note we bid farewell to Mzee Richard Ambani whose patient help and genuine interest is sorely missed by researchers visiting our National Archives. We fully support the suggestion that the short street adjoining the National Archives be named ‘Richard Ambani Road’.
The Editors
Zahid Rajan
Zarina Patel
