English books from Africa
Recommended English books (653)
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".
351.
Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed EN
EgyptDescription:
A brilliantly original debut graphic novel that imagines a fantastical alternate Cairo where wishes really do come true. Shubeik Lubeik—a fairy tale rhyme that means “your wish is my command” in Arabic—is the story of three people who are navigating a world where wishes are literally for sale. “The mythic qualities of Mohamed’s world bring our own world into sharper focus . . . Mohamed’s humor often feels like a protest, as do the thick and assertive lines of her drawings . . . The effect is gritty, brazen, and full of spunk.”—The New Yorker Three wishes that are sold at an unassuming kiosk in... continue
352.
Shut Up You're Pretty by Ta Mutonji, Tea Mutonji EN
Country: Africa / 
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Description:
A high-wire collection of darkly humorous stories about a young woman floating in and out of her skin, trying on identities imposed on her by others.
353.
Silence Is My Mother Tongue : A Novel by Sulaiman Addonia EN
EritreaDescription:
A sensuous, textured novel of life in a refugee camp, long-listed for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction On a hill overlooking a refugee camp in Sudan, a young man strings up bedsheets that, in an act of imaginative resilience, will serve as a screen in his silent cinema. From the cinema he can see all the comings and goings in the camp, especially those of two new arrivals: a girl named Saba, and her mute brother, Hagos. For these siblings, adapting to life in the camp is not easy. Saba mourns the future she lost when she was forced to abandon school, while Hagos, scorned for his inabilit... continue
354.
Silence of the Chagos by Shenaz Patel EN
MauritiusDescription:
Based on a true, still-unfolding story, Silence of the Chagos is a powerful exploration of cultural identity, the concept of home, and above all the neverending desire for justice. Shenaz Patel draws on the lives of exiled Chagossians in this tragic example of 20th century political oppression. Every afternoon a woman in a red headscarf walks to the end of the quay and looks out over the water, fixing her gaze “back there”: to Diego Garcia, one of the small islands forming the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean. With no explanation, no forewarning, and only an hour to pack their belongings... continue
355.
Silent Winds, Dry Seas : A Novel by Vinod Busjeet EN
Description:
ONE OF NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A sweeping debut novel that explores the intimate struggle for independence and success of a young descendant of Indian indentured laborers in Mauritius, a small multiracial island in the Indian Ocean. "The beauty of Busjeet's splendid, often breathtaking book is, like the best stories of journeys to young adulthood, the precious and well-observed and heartbreaking details of day-to-day life." --Edward P. Jones, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Known World In the 1950s, Vishnu Bhushan is a young boy yet to learn the truth beyond the rumors of his famil... continue
356.
Singing Away the Hunger : The Autobiography of an African Woman by Mpho ‘M’atsepo Nthunya EN
LesothoDescription:
A compelling and unique autobiography by an African woman with little formal education, less privilege, and almost no experience of books or writing. Mpho's voice is a voice almost never heard in literature or history, a voice from within the struggle of ""ordinary"" African women to negotiate a world which incorporates ancient pastoral ways and the congestion, brutality, and racist violence of city life. It is also the voice of a born storyteller who has a subject worthy of her gifts - a story for all the world to hear.
357.
Sipping Dom Pérignon Through A Straw by Eddie Ndopu EN
Country: Africa / 
South Africa
South Africa
Description:
'Uncompromising... A masterful writer poised for even more great success' - Forest Whitaker, Academy award-winning actor A memoir, penned with one good finger, about being profoundly disabled and profoundly successful. Global humanitarian Eddie Ndopu was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare degenerative motor neuron disease affecting his mobility. He was told that he wouldn't live beyond age five and yet, Ndopu thrived. He grew up loving pop music and haute couture, lip syncing to the latest hits, and was the only wheelchair user at his school, where he flourished academically. By his lat... continue
358.
Sit Down and Listen: Stories from South Africa by Ellen Kuzwayo EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
'For so many years now,' writes the author of this delightful collection, 'we have owned our stories while owning so little else.'
Ellen Kuzwayo's autobiography Call Me Woman was an international bestseller. At last we hear her extraordinarily distinct voice again, this time in a series of stories culled from her rich personal experience as community leader, social worker, teacher and black woman in South Africa.
These tales explore the complex life of contemporary black South Africa through the traditional form of story-telling. But the stories themselves are no... continue
359.
Slave: My True Story by Mende Nazer EN
SudanDescription:
The author describes the years she spent as a slave to a wealthy Arab family in Khartoum and her subsequent break for freedom after she was sent to work for a diplomat in London.
360.
Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto EN
Country: Africa / 
Mozambique
Mozambique
Description:
"On almost every page of this witty magical realist whodunit, we sense Couto's delight on those places where language slips officialdom's asphyxiating grasp."--The New York Times Book Review on The Last Flight of the Flamingo "The most prominent of the younger generation of writers in Portuguese-speaking Africa, Couto passionately and sensitively describes everyday life in poverty-stricken Mozambique."--Guardian (London) "Quite unlike anything else I have read from Africa."--Doris Lessing As the civil war rages in 1980s Mozambique, an old man and a young boy, refugees from the war, seek shelte... continue