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".
361.
Small Country : A Novel by Gaël Faye EN
BurundiDescription:
Already an international sensation and prize-winning bestseller in France, an evocative coming-of-age story of a young boy, a lost childhood and a shattered homeland. SHORTLISTED FOR THE ALBERTINE PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ESQUIRE • LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION • LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE Burundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his comfortable expatriate neighborhood of Bujumbura with his French father, Rwandan mother and little sister Ana, is something close to paradise. These are carefree days of laug... continue
362.
Smouldering Charcoal by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza EN
MalawiDescription:
Chronicles the lives of two families in post-colonial Africa, the first - poor, working-class and ill-educated - is compared to the young politically aware college student and her journalist fiance. The middle-class pair become victims of the same brutal violence that the poor and powerless suffer.
363.
Snakepit : A Novel by Moses Isegawa EN
UgandaDescription:
Praised on both sides of the Atlantic as well as in the author’s native Uganda, Moses Isegawa’s first novel Abyssinian Chronicles was a “big, transcendently ambitious book” (Boston Globe) that “blasts open the tidy borders of the conventional novel and redraws the literary map to reveal a whole new world” (Elle). In Snakepit, Isegawa returns to the surreal, brutalizing landscapes of his homeland during the time of dictator Idi Amin, when interlocking webs of emotional cruelty kept tyrants gratified and servants cooperative, a land where no one–not husbands or wives, parents or lovers–is ever s... continue
364.
Snares Without End by Olympe Bhêly-Quénum EN
BeninDescription:
A novel, also a philosophical tale in which destiny entraps the innocent protagonist and holds him fast. Some readers have found an affinity in it with Camus' notion of the absurd, while others have preferred to dwell on its evocation of country life in northern Dahomey and the importance of music in the farmers' daily life. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
365.
Burkina Faso366.
So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba EN
SenegalDescription:
Written by award-winning African novelist Mariama Ba and translated from the original French, So Long a Letter has been recognized as one of Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century. The brief narrative, written as an extended letter, is a sequence of reminiscences - some wistful, some bitter - recounted by recently widowed Senegalese school teacher Ramatoulaye Fall. Addressed to a lifelong friend, Aissatou, it is a record of Ramatoulaye's emotional struggle for survival after her husband betrayed their marriage by taking a second wife. This semi-autobiographical account is a perceptive tes... continue
367.
So Vast the Prison : A Novel by Assia Djebar EN
AlgeriaDescription:
So Vast the Prison is the double-threaded story of a modern, educated Algerian woman existing in a man's society, and, not surprisingly, living a life of contradictions. Djebar, too, tackles cross-cultural issues just by writing in French of an Arab society (the actual act of writing contrasting with the strong oral traditions of the indigenous culture), as a woman who has seen revolution in a now post-colonial country, and as an Algerian living in exile. In this new novel, Djebar brilliantly plays these contradictions against the bloody history of Carthage, a great civilization the Berbers we... continue
368.
Soft Magic by Upile Chisala EN
Description:
'soft magic.' is the debut collection of prose and poetry by Malawian writer, Upile Chisala. This book explores the self, joy, blackness, gender, matters of the heart, the experience of Diaspora, spirituality and most of all, how we survive. 'soft magic.' is a shared healing journey.
369.
Something Evergreen Called Life by Rania Mamoun EN
SudanDescription:
"Come behind these walls that cage you something evergreen called life" After years of writing and organizing against the regime of Omar al-Bashir, Sudanese writer, journalist, and activist Rania Mamoun was finally forced to leave her country with her young daughters, taking refuge in a US city in the early throes of a pandemic. Confined to her new home, Mamoun embarked on a daily practice of writing out of which emerged these poems of loss, despair, and hope. Brought into English by Yasmine Seale with lyric agility and an ethic of care, Something Evergreen Called Life offers readers nightpier... continue
370.
Something Torn and New : An African Renaissance by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o EN
KenyaDescription:
Novelist Ngugi wa Thiong'o has been a force in African literature for decades: Since the 1970s, when he gave up the English language to commit himself to writing in African languages, his foremost concern has been the critical importance of language toc