The
Witness of Nina Mvungi
is a collection of seven stories by contemporary Swahili writer Esther Karin Mngodo translated by the award winning Translator from the Swahili, Jay Boss Rubin. It is the first full-length book of fiction by award-winning contemporary Tanzanian author Esther Karin Mngodo. Its seven stories, translated from Swahili, range in style from lyrical realism to speculative fiction and Afrofuturism. The stories all share a distinct voice and focus on the feminine, and some are linked not just thematically but in terms of plot. Whether depicting a world of spirits behind the proverbial curtain, a dystopian future in which the sun is about to expire, or a sweltering-hot present-day fish market, Mngodo's tantalizing fiction pushes beyond allegory and didacticism into the rich ambiguity of lived experience. She portrays intimate encounters between a wide variety of characters with compassion and wit, paying particular attention to class and gender dynamics. Some of her stories appear to turn on secrets suddenly revealed—but more than plot resolution, they rely on mutual entanglement.