Mathias E. Mnyampala

Mathias Eugen Mnyampala (1917–1969) was a Tanzanian writer, lawyer, and poet. Mnyampala was born on 18 November 1917 according to a personal record form but he wrote in his autobiography, Maisha ni kugharimia, first published posthumously in 2013 from his 1968-1969 manuscript, that he only knew the year with accuracy. He was born in the hamlet of Muntundya depending on the village of Ihumwa in Chamwino District in Dodoma region at the time part of German East Africa. He died on 8 June 1969 in Dodoma city, Tanzania. Mnyampala wrote in Swahili, the lingua franca of East Africa, not Cigogo, the native language of his ethnic group.