Last week, Jalada released a translation issue that instantly caused widespread uproar (of joy). The pan-African literary collective took one of Ngugi wa Thiongo’s short stories written in Kikuyu and proceeded to translate it into not one, two, three but 33 different languages, the majority of which were African languages.
This officially makes Ngugi’s story, titled “Ituĩka Rĩa Mũrũngarũ: Kana Kĩrĩa Gĩtũmaga Andũ Mathiĩ Marũngiĩ,” the most translated story in the recorded history of African literature.
Such a translation project is beyond mind-blowing for a whole lot of reasons, one of which is that it unites a community of readers around fiction written in African languages. For the first time, stories written in African languages— Sheng, Ibibio, Somali, Ahmharic, Dholuo, Kikamba, Lwisukha-Lwidakho, Ikinyarwada, Arabic, Luganda, Kiswahili, Afrikaans, Hausa, Meru, Lingala, IsiZulu, Igbo, isiNdebele, XiTsonga, Nandi, Rukiga and so on—are being circulated globally and are generating conversations among readers all over the world. Wow! So beautiful and so worth celebrating.
Click here to begin reading “The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright” in any language of your choice.
African literary Twitter has been more than delighted about the whole thing. Here are a few of the remarks expressing excitement and celebrating what everyone agrees is a historic event.
Our reaction when we saw @JaladaAfrica’s #TranslationIssue: https://t.co/W6hC8iv3BK #1Story #33AfricanLanguages 🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/fqR8FWnJ1o
— A F R E A D A (@afreada) March 23, 2016
@JaladaAfrica is going to make me cry. Just look at this beauty! Demolishing the Igbo, thanks to Nzube Ifechukwu.
https://t.co/x8gykxdFeP— Chikodili Emelumadu (@chemelumadu) March 22, 2016
A short story by Ngugi wa Thiong’o translated into — wait for it — THIRTY-THREE different African languages: https://t.co/TR1VnTPsVt
— Aaron Bady (@zunguzungu) March 22, 2016
Wow. Must-read Translation issue is out on @JaladaAfrica featuring the greatest of greats Ngugi wa Thiong’o https://t.co/JUDxRpMi1S
— Bhakti Shringarpure (@bhakti_shringa) March 22, 2016
Reading Ngugi in #Amharic! This feels so right! A neighbour from Kenya, he finally feels truly close. https://t.co/EDdpUOdKLX @JaladaAfrica
— Linda Yohannes (@LindaYohannes) March 24, 2016
Great things are happening in #African #writing! @JaladaAfrica publishes short story in over 30 African #languages https://t.co/0eR4S02cQo
— AAJW (@AAJWnewyorkcity) March 23, 2016
What @JaladaAfrica has done here with the little resources they have is 100% admirable. #TranslationIssue https://t.co/OyDe25UN5E
— Lesleigh (@LesleighInc) March 23, 2016
Congratulations & Thanks @JaladaAfrica. Translating Ngugi’s story into 30 African languages is a befitting tribute https://t.co/LRIAs0XLpX
— Cassava Republic (@CassavaRepublic) March 24, 2016
This is such an awesome and necessary project. Love it @JaladaAfrica
Jalada Translation Issue 01: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o https://t.co/tsvRru4ovm— Ebele M. (@ebyral) March 23, 2016
What @JaladaAfrica has done here with the little resources they have is 100% admirable. #TranslationIssue https://t.co/OyDe25UN5E
— Lesleigh (@LesleighInc) March 23, 2016
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Header image via Mashable
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