Swahili translation of the Nobel-prize winning author's 1994 novel Paradise.
 
Mzaliwa wa Afrika ya Mashariki, Yusuf anaondoka kwao kwa ghafla akiwa na umri wa miaka kumi na mbili. Haimjii hata kwa sekunde moja, kwamba atakuwa mbali na wazazi wake kwa muda mrefu, na wala hafikirii kuuliza atarudi lini au kwa nini safari iliandaliwa kwa ghafla kiasi kile. Yusuf anaamini kuwa anamsindikiza Ami Aziz lakini ukweli ni kwamba 'ami' yake ni Mfanyabiashara, tena tajiri mkubwa, na Yusuf amewekwa rehani ili kulipia madeni ya baba yake.
 
Yusuf anajikuta anasafiri katika miji na vitongoji vingi vingine ambako anakutana na watu wa kila namna. Anabalehe na kukua kwenye dunia inayobadilika kwa kasi kutokana na kuingia kwa ukoloni na udhalimu wake na jamii kuharibika kwa kuvurugwa kwa utamaduni wake.
 
 
 
Hii ni tafsiri ya kwanza kwa riwaya za Abdulrazak Gurnah katika lugha ya Kiafrika.
 
 
 
Abdulrazak Gurnah ni mshindi wa Tuzo ya Nobel ya Fasihi ya mwaka 2021. Ameandika riwaya kumi ikiwemo hii ya paradise. Gurnah ni Profesa wa Masomo ya Kiingereza na Fasihi za Kikoloni katika Chuo Kikuu cha Kent.
 
Dkt. Ida Hadjivayanis ni Mhadhiri Mwandamizi wa Masomo ya Kiswahili SOAS, Chuo kikuu cha London. Ametafsiri riwaya kadhaa kwa Kiswahili na Kiingereza.
 
 
Born in East Africa, Yusuf leaves home suddenly at the age of twelve. It does not occur to him for a second that he will be away from his parents for a long time, and he does not think to ask when he will return or why the trip was arranged so suddenly. Yusuf believes that he is accompanying Ami Aziz but the truth is that his 'ami' is a businessman, again a very rich man, and Yusuf has been mortgaged to pay off his father's debts.
 
Yusuf finds himself traveling to many other cities and towns where he meets all kinds of people. He grows up and matures in a world that is changing rapidly due to the entry of colonialism and its injustice and society is destroyed by the disruption of its culture.
 
This is the first translation of Abdulrazak Gurnah's novels into an African language.
 
Abdulrazak Gurnah is the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature. He has written ten novels, including Paradise. Gurnah is Professor of English Studies and Colonial Literature at the University of Kent.
 
Dr. Ida Hadjivayanis is Senior Lecturer in Swahili Studies at SOAS, University of London. She has translated several novels into Swahili and English.