Short story by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o translated into over 30 languages in one publication

The Kenyan author’s story The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright is ‘the single most translated short story in the history of African writing’

A fable by the major Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has been translated into over 30 languages, making it “the single most translated short story in the history of African writing”, according to its publisher.

Pan-African writers’ collective Jalada Africa released its latest issue, focusing on translation, last week. It includes Ngũgĩ’s story Ituĩka Rĩa Mũrũngarũ: Kana Kĩrĩa Gĩtũmaga Andũ Mathiĩ Marũngiĩ, which the award-winning author originally wrote in Kikuyu, a Kenyan language, and then translated himself into English as The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright. The fable tells the story of how “a long time ago humans used to walk on legs and arms, just like all the other four limbed creatures”, but how “their rhythm and seamless coordination made the other parts [of the body] green with envy”, and “they started plotting against the two pairs”.

There are millions of speakers in African languages and not many writers in African languages. Why? Can this be changed?

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