Elieshi Lema (born 1949) is a Tanzanian writer and publisher, also active in Tanzania's civil society.

Biography

Lema was born in the village of Nronga and grew up there. She studied library science and worked at the national library. She continued her education by studying English literature at the University of Dar es Salaam and creative writing at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. Lema began writing poetry and then children's books in

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

, before writing her first novel ''Parched Earth'' in English in 2001. This novel has been translated into Swedish and French and received honourable mention for the

Noma Award for Publishing in Africa The Noma Award for Publishing in Africa (''French:Le Prix Noma de Publication en Afrique''), which ran from 1980 to 2009, was an annual $10,000 prize for outstanding African writers and scholars who published in Africa. Within four years of its est ...

. Another of her books for young adults, called ''In the Belly of Dar es Salaam'', was on the shortlist for the Burt Award for African Literature. Lema is co-owner of the publishing house E&D Vision Publishing, which also operates a book café in Dar es Salaam. E&D Vision Publishing mainly has published children's books, textbooks and titles about African history, both in Swahili as well as in English. In 1998, they published the first booklet for young readers on the history of the

dinosaurs of Tendaguru Dinosaurs of Tendaguru (original title: Dinosaria wa Tendaguru) is a Tanzanian booklet for young readers on natural history, focussing on the discovery and subsequent excavations of dinosaur fossils at Tendaguru Formation, Tendaguru hill in Li ...

, which is currently out of print. Lema is a founding director for the Tanzania Cultural Trust Fund. Also, she has served on the board for the

African Publishers Network The African Publishers Network (APNET) is a pan-African, non-profit, collaborative network that exists to connect African publishing associations in order to exchange information and promote and strengthen indigenous publishing. Introduction Pri ...

, ''Haki Elimu'', the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme, the Tanzania Media Fund and on the executive board for the Publishers Association of Tanzania, as well as the Children's Book Network.

References

External links

Review of ''Parched Earth''
on literary blog 'Around the World in 180 Books' {{DEFAULTSORT:Lema, Elieshi 1949 births Living people Tanzanian novelists Tanzanian poets University of Dar es Salaam alumni San Francisco State University alumni Swahili-language writers English-language writers from Tanzania Tanzanian librarians Women librarians