My introduction to African literature came by way of my Nigerian father, who insisted I read Chinua Achebe’s classic, Things Fall Apart. He said it showed how Igboland was before the British colonized it. Through some of the cleanest, tightest prose I’ve ever read, I got a sense of what the area was like before colonialism. Since then, I’ve seen works by African authors like Akwaeke Emezi and Trevor Noah be read widely, but there is a whole of African authors who are being slept on, which is why the 23rd task for our Read Harder Challenge is to Read a book by an African author.
Below you’ll find the classic that got me started on my journey of reading work by authors from the Motherland, as well as authors from other parts of the continent that I think we should all get into. Many of them are bestselling, award-winning authors who you need to get into ASAP.
One Leg on Earth by ‘Pemi Aguda
After her award-winning collection, Ghostroots: Stories, Aguda
From the National Book Award finalist for Ghostroots comes a Lagos-set debut full of Nigerian folklore and history. Yosoye is a young woman who has just moved to Lagos with the promise of a new life when she realizes she’s pregnant. The pregnancy is good news, since it means she’ll have the chance to finally feel love from someone. But there is something haunting the city’s pregnant women. Something that may be stalking Yosoyeand is somehow connected to the uncanny deaths in the waters of Lagos.
My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria by Andrée Blouin
Andrée Blouin is a name I know many of us Americans have not heard enough of. At one time, she was called the most dangerous woman in Africa for her role in decolonization. She advised the leaders of the Congo, Algeria, Mali, Guinea, and Ghana. She accomplished all this after being abandoned at three and escaping a forced marriage organized by the abusive colonial orphanage that raised her. Her two-year-old son dying from being denied malaria treatment on account of his being partially African sent her on a radicalized path of freedom fighting and activism. I can’t wait to read more about her.
All access members continue below for more books by African authors.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Published in 1958, Things Fall Apart is one of the most celebrated books in African and world literature. One of the main characters of this story is Okonkwo who embodies a lot of negative traits that he tries to justify as a positive. Now on the verge of being colonized by the British, Okonkwo looks to his ancestors for their wisdom to help him survive. —Erika Hardison
Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah
In this first novel since his 2021 Nobel Prize win, three young people — Karim, Fauzia, and Badar — come of age in Tanzania at the turn of the 21st century. Karim has returned home from college with new confidence, and Fauzia sees in him a chance for escape. Together, they help Badar see a life outside of poverty, even if he’s still uncertain about his future. Though they are together, they’ll have to determine what their ever-changing world has in store for each of them.
Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite
This is a literary horror novel from Oyinkan Braithwaite, author ofMy Sister, the Serial Killer. Ebun gives birth to her daughter, Eniiyi,on the same day that her family buried her cousin Monife. Right away, everyone sees the connection between Eniiyi and Monife and worries Eniiyi will be doomed to the same tragic fate. Between that and the family curse, will Eniiyi be doomed to a life of sadness and heartbreak? Or will she be able to break the cycle? —Emily Martin
Remember the Bees by Zineb Mekouar, translated by Maren Baudet-Lackner
Anir is a young boy who has been entrusted with an ancient apiary in Morocco. But problems start to arise with this finally realized dream—inspired by his beekeeper grandfather. Problems that mirror his personal life. The landscape that has fostered the bees’ life since forever is changing: temperatures are sky-high, and flowers are disappearing. And then there is the matter of his father, who has left to find work in the city, and his mother, whose illness is so consuming that it’s starting to feel like a curse.
I’ll Take the Fire by Leïla Slimani, translated by Sam Taylor
This was one of this year’s most anticipated translated books. It’s made even more intriguing with the fact that it is a poetry-filled autobiography of the author. In it, Mia seeks freedom, no matter the cost. Though she’s reared in a conservative Morocco, so many of the most important people in her life—from her banker father to her feminist doctor mother, to her favorite authors—all inspire her to be herself. So she sets out to find out exactly who she is, and travels from Casablanca to Paris and beyond, witnessing major historical moments along the way.
Sister Deborah by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated by Mark Polizzotti
This book is one of the first ever listed in a longlist for the The National Book Critics Circle Awards.
It’s the 1930s in Rwanda when young Ikirezi—whose many ailments seem untreatable—is sent to be healed by Sister Deborah. Now, the good Sister, with her termite perch beneath a coral tree, had healing hands, yes, but she had something else, too. Folks said she would descend on a cloud, bringing abundant harvests with her, and that women would bare their breasts under her influence, all in the name of liberation. Once Ikirezi grows up, she travels back to her home country after being educated in America to find out who—or what—Sister Deborah really was.
Sugar Town Queens by Malla Nunn
This YA novel comes from a multi-award-winning author. Amandla and her mother are viewed as strange in Sugar Town, South Africa. For starters, her mother, Annalisa, has visions and can’t seem to remember much from before Amandla was born. But, perhaps most importantly, Amandla is brown and her mother is white. One day, everything changes—Amandla finds an address and a fat stack of cash in her mother’s purse, and she realizes it’s time to find out who her mother really is. What she finds changes everything she thought she knew about herself.
There are, of course, only so many books and authors I can discuss in one list. The continent is vast and wide, so make sure to check out lists like 15 Of The Best Nigerian Books to keep adding to your to-be-read list.
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