His research interests include world literature, comparative literature, translation studies, and African continental and diasporic literatures (with a focus on Anglophone and Swahiliphone literature). He is a prolific Kiswahili fiction writer and poet with a literary oeuvre exceeding thirty titles and has won several awards. Notably, he won the Jomo Kenyatta Literature Prize twice, for Ndoto ya Amerika in 2003 and Kisasi Hapana in 2009. He has published a number of book chapters and articles in academic journals, including Research in African Literatures (RAL), Swahili Forum, Kiswahili, Journal of the Association of African Literature (JALA), Canadian Journal of African Studies (CJAS), African Quarterly Review (AQR), Journal of African Language Teachers Association (JALTA), and Curator: The International Museum Journal.