English books from Africa
Recommended English books (446)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you speak English here are some English books from Africa for the next part of the "Read Around The World Challenge".
261.
EgyptDescription:
Radwa and Shagar are two women born on the same day. Spectres alternates between their childhoods, their days at work, their married and unmarried lives, and the two books they are writing.
262.
Spirit Rising : My Life, My Music by Angelique Kidjo, Rachel Wenrick EN
BeninDescription:
“Spinning a dramatic soulful mix of text, photos, song lyrics, and even family recipes, Grammy-winning West African-born Angelique Kidjo ... takes us from her first vocal performance ... to her current life as a world-pop-chart-topping singer-songwriter, humanitarian activist, and UNICEF goodwill ambassador.” — Elle “This inspiring memoir is as much about the author’s love for family and homeland as it is about music ... readers will be enamored of this beautifully told tale of courage and determination, revealing an expansive life that proves ‘music has no color, no language, no boundaries.’ ... continue
263.
Standing Heavy by Gauz EN
Country: Africa / 
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast
Description:
"One of those rare, transformative novels" KARIM MISKE "Funny and poignant" TIFFANY TSAO, author of The Majesties Initially a little intrigued, all babies eventually return the security guard's smile. The security guard adores babies. Perhaps because babies do not shoplift. Babies adore the security guard. Perhaps because he does not drag babies to the sales. The 1960s - Ferdinand arrives in Paris from Côte d'Ivoire, ready to take on the world and become a big somebody. The 1990s - It is the Golden Age of immigration, and Ossiri and Kassoum navigate a Paris on the brink of momentous change. Th... continue
264.
Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo EN
NigeriaDescription:
Originally published: Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2017.
265.
Stolen Livers by Malika Oufkir, Michele Fitoussi EN
MoroccoDescription:
Malika Oufkir has been a prisoner for most of her life in 1972 her father was executed. Malika and her family were sent to a desert gaol. In 1996 she was able to leave Morocco to begin a new life in France.
266.
Straight from the Horse's Mouth : A Novel by Meryem Alaoui EN
Description:
Named a Best Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Public Library This hilarious, colorful portrait of a sex worker navigating life in modern Morocco introduces a promising new literary voice. Thirty-four-year-old prostitute Jmiaa reflects on the bustling world around her with a brutal honesty, but also a quick wit that cuts through the drudgery. Like many of the women in her working-class Casablanca neighborhood, Jmiaa struggles to earn enough money to support herself and her family—often including the deadbeat husband who walked out on her and their young daughter. While she doesn’t despair ab... continue
267.
Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold by Umar Turaki EN
Description:
An inexplicable sickness. A small town cut off from the world. An unexpected community of survivors forges a family out of the despair, struggling against things known and unknown for survival and hope. A mysterious plague known as the Grey grips the small village of Pilam, which the world has quarantined without pity. Laying waste to Pilam's residents, the sickness saps its victims of strength, drains the color from their eyes, and kills all promise. Only the young are immune. But beyond the barricades and walls of soldiers--the manifestation of a nation's terror--there are rumors of a cure. ... continue
268.
Sundiata : An Epic of Old Mali by Djibril Tamsir Niane EN
GuineaDescription:
"The son of Sogolon, the hunchback princess, and Maghan, known as 'the handsome', Sundiata grew up to fulfil the prophesies of the soothsayers that he would unite the twelve kingdoms of Mali into one of the most powerful empires ever known in Africa, which at its peak stretched right across the savanna belt from the shores of the Atlantic to the dusty walls of Timbuktu." "Retold by generations of griots - the guardians of African culture - this oral tradition has been handed down from the thirteenth century and captures all the mystery and majesty of medieval African kingship. It is an epic ta... continue
269.
Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes EN
GhanaDescription:
Originally published: London: Jonathan Cape, 2009.
270.
Talismano by Abdelwahab Meddeb EN
TunisiaDescription:
Talismano is a novelistic exploration of writing seen as a hallucinatory journey through half-remembered, half-imagined cities—in particular, the city of Tunis, both as it is now, and as it once was. Walking and writing, journey and journal, mirror one another to produce a calligraphic, magical work: a palimpsest of various languages and cultures, highlighting Abdelwahab Meddeb's beguiling mastery of both the Western and Islamic traditions. Meddeb's journey is first and foremost a sensual one, almost decadent, where the narrator luxuriates in the Tunis of his memories and intercuts these impre... continue