Female characters in the plays of Kithaka wa Mberia

Abstract

This article is a kind of continuation of two previously published articles about the female characters in the works of two distinguished Kenyan writers of Swahili expression – Kyallo Wadi Wamitila and Ken Walibora (Gromov 2015, 2020). In these articles I attempted to outline the roles and importance of female characters in the works of two topmost Kenyan Swahili novelists. This study is based on the plays of Kithaka wa Mberia (born 1955), who also holds one of the leading positions in modern Kenyan literature in Swahili. Initially wa Mberia became renowned as a poet – he has authored seven collections of poetry, and is arguably the only Swahili poet in Kenya who uses the poetic technique of free verse.