by H. Nanjala Nyabola
Inspired by the recent article on a woman who read one book from each country in the world (and blogged about it), I put together this reading list featuring one writer from each African country and territory. I can’t say anything about the quality of the books because I haven’t read most of them, and in some cases (Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Guinea-Bissau) I put books that I personally wanted to read. As far as possible, I have tried to put in the English translation of the books, but in some cases, only the Spanish, Swahili, French or Portuguese is available. (More incentive for you to learn the languages, no? ;)) The books highlighted seem to be out of print so will need some creativity to access. Go crazy book lovers!
Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at book-signing of ‘Americanah’
| Algeria | Ainsi naquit une homme | Myriam Ben | F | Fiction | ||
| Angola | Yaka | Pepetela, Onjaki | M | Crime | ||
| Benin | Une Enfant dans la guerre | Florent Couao-Zotti | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Botswana | A Bewitched Crossroad | Bessie Head | F | Literary Fiction | ||
| Burkina Faso | Les Liens | Amadou Koné | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Burundi | Princess de Rugo, Mon Histoire | Esther Kamatari | F | Literary Fiction | ||
| Cameroon | Chuchotte pas trop | Frieda Ekotto | F | Literary Fiction | ||
| Cape Verde | Lisbon Blues | José Luis Tavares | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Central African Republic | Daba’s travels from Ouadda to Bangui | Makombo Bambote | M | Children’s Fiction | ||
| Chad | Les Racines De Yucca | Koulsy Lamko | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Comoros | La republique des imberbes | Mohammed Toihiri | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Cote d’Ivoire | Aya* | Marguerite Abouet | F | *Graphic novel | ||
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | Full Circle | Frederick Kambemba Yamusangie | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Djibouti | Passage of Tears | Waberi Abdourahman | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Egypt | Zeina | Nawal El-Saadawi | F | Literary Fiction | ||
| Equatorial Guinea | Shadows of your Black Memory | Donato Ndogo | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Eritrea | Two Weeks in The Trenches | Alemseged Tesfai | M | Anthology | ||
| Ethiopia | Beneath the Lion’s Gaze | Maaza Mengiste | F | Literary Fiction | ||
| Gabon | Protocole du mariage coutumierau Gabon* | Justine Mintsa | F | *Non fiction | ||
| The Gambia | Chaff on the Wind | Ebou Dibba | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Ghana | Reflections from a Black Eyed Squint | Ama-Ata Aidoo | F | Literary Fiction | ||
| Guinea | Fode, La petite coxeur | Boubacar Diallo | M | Children’s Fiction | ||
| Guinea-Bissau | Return to the Source* | Amilcar Cabral | M | *non-fiction | ||
| Kenya | Dust | Yvonne Owuor | F | Literary Fiction | ||
| Lesotho | Singing away the hunger | Mpho Matsepo Nthunya | F | *Non-fiction | ||
| Liberia | Ebony Dust | Bai T. Moore | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Libya | In the Country of Men | Hisham Matar | M | Literary Fiction | ||
| Madagascar | Elle, au Printemps | Michèle Rakotoson | F | Literary Fiction | ||
| Young Adult Fiction | ||||||
| Malawi | Love’s Dilemma | Walije Gondwe | F | (Pacesetters) | ||
| Mali | Bound to Violence | Yambo Ouologuem | M | |||
| Mauritania | Sia Yatabéré | Moussa Diagana | M | Literary Fiction | |
| Mauritius | Indian Tango | Ananda Devi | M | Literary Fiction | |
| Morocco | Les temps des erreurs | Mohamed Choukri | M | Literary Fiction | |
| Mozambique | The Last Flight of the Flamingo | Mia Couto | M | Literary Fiction | |
| Namibia | Born of the Sun: A Namibian Novel | Joseph Diescho | M | Literary Fiction | |
| Niger | Sarraounia: Le drame de la reine magicienne | Abdoulaye Mamani | M | Literary Fiction | |
| Nigeria | Americanah | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | F | Literary Fiction | |
| Republic of the Congo | Le masque de chacal | Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard | M | Literary Fiction | |
| Rwanda | Le Feu sou la soutane | Benjamin Sehene | M | Literary Fiction | |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | The Shepherd’s House | Olinda Beja | F | Literary Fiction | |
| Senegal | Scarlet Song | Mariama Ba | F | Literary Fiction | |
| Seychelles | Contes et Poemes Africains* | Antoine Abel | M | *Anthology | |
| Sierra Leone | A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soldier* | Ismael Beah | M | *Non-Fiction | |
| Somalia | Fairytales for Lost Children | Diriye Osman | M | Children’s Fiction | |
| South Africa | In the Fog of the Season’s End | Alex La Guma | M | Literary Fiction | |
| South Sudan | There is a Country* | Nyuol Lueth Tong | M | *Anthology | |
| Sudan | Season of Migration to the North | Tayeb Salih | M | Literary Fiction | |
| Swaziland | Weeding the flowerbeds | Sarah Mkhonza | F | Literary Fiction | |
| Tanzania | Wasifu wa Siti Binti Saad | Shaaban Robert | M | Literary Fiction (Swahili) | |
| Togo | L’Exile | Kodjo Adabra | M | Literary Fiction | |
| Anthology, Short | |||||
| Tunisia | Le Harem en Peril et autres nouvelles | Rafik Ben Salah | M | stories | |
| Uganda | Any “Moses” book | Barbara Kimenye | F | Children’s Fiction | |
| Zambia | Talakata, The Tears of Africa | Zindaba Nyirenda, | F | Literary Fiction | |
| Zimbabwe | Nervous Conditions | Tsitsi Dangarembga | F | Literary Fiction | |
| Somaliland | Black Mamba Boy | Nadifa Mohammed | F | Literary Fiction | |
| Western Sahara | La maestra que me enseño en una tabla de madera | Bahia Mahmud Awah | M | Literary Fiction (Spanish) | |
| Male |
35 |
||||
| Female | 21 | ||||
(H. Nanjala Nyabola is a Kenyan writer, political analyst and sometime-activist. She’s a traveller, a lover of books and good food. Follow her on twitter @nanjala1.)