Editing Shaaban bin Robert (section)

{{Short description|Tanzanian poet, author, and essayist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   =
| name               = Shaaban Robert
| honorific_suffix   = [[Member of the Order of the British Empire|MBE]]
| image              = Shaaban bin Robert.jpg
| birth_name         = Shaaban bin Selemani
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1909|01|01|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = Vibamba village, [[Tangasisi]], [[Tanga Region|Tanga]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1962|06|20|1909|01|01|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Dar es Salaam]], [[Tanzania]]<ref name="Chipasula2009">{{cite book|author=Frank M Chipasula|title=Bending the Bow: An Anthology of African Love Poetry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQBrThtyKeYC&pg=PA283|date=5 August 2009|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-8638-3|pages=283–}}</ref>
| death_cause        =
| resting_place      = Machui, [[Tangasisi]], Tanga Region
| nationality        = Tanzanian
| education          =
| alma_mater         =
| occupation         = Civil servant, writer, poet
| years_active       = 1932–62
| known_for          = [[Kiswahili language|kiswahili]] literature
| notable_works      = ''Kusadikika''
| spouse             = Amina
| children           = 10
| parents            =
| awards             = [[Margaret Wrong Prize and Medal for African Literature]]
| module             =
| signature          =
| signature_alt      =
| signature_size     =
| website            =  
| footnotes          =
}}

'''Shaaban bin Robert''', also known as '''Shaaban Robert''' (1 January 1909 – 20 June 1962), was a Tanzanian poet, author, and essayist who supported the preservation of [[Tanzania]]n [[Verse (poetry)|verse]] traditions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Killam |first=G. D. |author2=Ruth Rowe |title=The Companion to African Literatures |year=2000 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0-253-33633-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/companiontoafric0000unse }}</ref> Robert is celebrated as one of the greatest Tanzanian Swahili thinkers, intellectuals and writers in East Africa and has been called "poet laureate of Swahili" and is also known as the "Father of Swahili."<ref name=shaaban>{{Cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404705882.html |title=Shaaban Robert |publisher=Encyclopedia.com |year=2004 |accessdate=2008-06-27}}</ref> He is also honoured as the [[national poet]].<ref name="CameronDodd2014">{{cite book|author1=J. Cameron|author2=W. A. Dodd|title=Society, Schools and Progress in Tanzania: The Commonwealth and International Library: Education and Educational Research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=73eoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57|date=17 May 2014|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-1-4831-5914-0|pages=57–}}</ref>