Muyaka bin Haji al-Ghassaniy (1776 – 1840) was the earliest secular Swahili poet whose identity is known. He was a citizen of Mombasa who has been credited with bringing Swahili verse “out of the mosque and into the marketplace” with his commentary on daily life and Mombasa's frequent battles defending its independence against the Omani Empire. He was also an early master of the mashairi quatrain form that serves to this day as the predominant form of Swahili verse. His work would likely have been permanently lost were it not collected and recorded from the memory of elderly Mombasan poets in the late 19th century by the scholars William Ernest Taylor and Mwalimu Sikujua.

Richard Prins is a New Yorker who has lived, worked, studied and recorded music in Dar es Salaam. His poems appear in publications like Gulf Coast, jubilat, and Ploughshares, his essays have received "Notable" mentions in Best American Essays and Best American Travel Writing, and his translations appear in publications like Columbia Review, Los Angeles Review and Washington Square Review. Arrests include criminal trespass (Trump Tower), disorderly conduct (Trump International Hotel), resisting arrest (Republican National Convention), and incommoding the halls of Congress (United States Senate).