Newspaper serials in Tanzania: the case of Eric James Shigongo (with an interview)

• Main Author: Reuster-Jahn, Uta
• Other Authors: Universität Hamburg, Asien-Afrika-Institut
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig 2012
• Subjects: Swahili; Zeitung; Fortsetzungsroman; Tansania; Eric James Shigongo; newspaper; serial; Tanzania; ddc:496
• Online Access: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-91040; http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-91040; http://www.qucosa.de/fileadmin/data/qucosa/documents/9104/15_04_Reuster-Jahn.pdf

Newspaper serials have a long history in Tanzania. Since the privatisation of media in the 1990s, the number of newspapers and tabloids has multiplied, and serials have become abundant. I would dare to say that they are the most popular form of fiction at the moment in terms of quantity of readers. They are especially prevalent in the tabloids, where there often are more than three stories being serialised at a time. Some authors publish serials only occasionally, while there are also established serial writers such as Sultan Tamba, Faki A. Faki and Hamees M. Suba.However, the most prominent writer specialising in newspaper serials is Eric James Shigongo, who probably is also the most prolific author of popular literature of the last decade in Tanzania altogether. In his case, novel writing has reached a new quality as a well organised, apparently successful, self-owned business.