Nahida Esmail

Nahida Esmail is a Tanzanian author^[1] and poet.^[2][3] She is a lifetime sponsor of 'The Teen Writers Awards'.^[4][5]

Nahida Esmail
Born	Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Pen name	Umm Hafsah
Occupation	Author Poet Columnist
Language	English Swahili
Education	Masters in Child Development with Early Childhood Education, Institute of Education, University of London U.K BSc in Psychology Goldsmiths College, University of London U.K
Notable awards	CODE's Burt Award for African Young Adult Literature
Children	Hafsah Seedat Khaled, Humeira Seedat Khaled

Early life and education

Nahida Esmail was born and raised in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.^[6] She was educated at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and graduated with a BSc in Psychology and completed a Masters degree in Child Development with Early Childhood Education at the Institute of Education, University of London.^[7] Later on She got married and gave birth to her 2 daughters Hafsah and Humeira Khaled.

Career

Esmail has published four young adult fiction novels^[8] and ten children's books of which some have been translated into Swahili and Maa.^[9]

Writing

Published books

2011

• Esmail, Nahida (29 December 2017). Living in the Shade: Aiming for the Summit. African Books Collective. ISBN 978-9987-08-348-0.
• Esmail, Nahida (2011). Lessilie: The City Maasai. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-9976-4-0428-9.

2014

• Nahida, Esmai (16 April 2018). The Detectives of Shangani. Mkuki na Nyota Publishers. ISBN 978-9987-08-292-6.

2017

• Esmail, Nahida (30 October 2017). What Is Islam?. Fitra Journal. ISBN 978-0-9988260-4-2.

2019

• Esmail, Nahida (2019). Karafu: A Freed Slave. Mkuki na Nyota. ISBN 978-9987-08-331-2.

2021

• Esmail, Nahida (2021). Bahiya, the Little Zebra: A Picture Book from Tanzania and Egypt. African Bureau Stories. ISBN 978-9988-2-2702-9.

2024

• Esmail, Nahida (2024). The pink bodaboda. MBIU Press. OCLC 1463940813.

Poetry

• The Atlas Lions

Awards and honours

In 2015 Esmail was honoured with the Tanzania Women's Achievement Award for the education category.^[10]

Her four young adult novels, Living in the Shade,^[11] Lesslie the City Maasai,^[12] Detectives of Shangani,^[13]  and Living in the Shade: Aiming for the Summit^[14] have all received CODE's Burt Award for African literature.