English books from Africa
Recommended English books (432)
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".
71.
Butter Honey Pig Bread : A Novel by Francesca Ekwuyasi EN
NigeriaDescription:
Finalist, Lambda Literary Award, Governor General's Literary Award, and Amazon Canada First Novel Award; Longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize Spanning three continents, Butter Honey Pig Bread tells the interconnected stories of three Nigerian women: Kambirinachi and her twin daughters, Kehinde and Taiye. Kambirinachi believes that she is an Ogbanje, or an Abiku, a non-human spirit that plagues a family with misfortune by being born and then dying in childhood to cause a human mother misery. She has made the unnatural choice of staying alive to love her human family but lives in fear of t... continue
72.
Butterfly Burning by Yvonne Vera EN
ZimbabweDescription:
Butterfly Burning brings the brilliantly poetic voice of Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera to American readers for the first time. Set in Makokoba, a black township, in the late l940s, the novel is an intensely bittersweet love story.
73.
By Night the Mountain Burns by Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel EN
Country: Africa / 
Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea
Description:
Exiled Equatorial Guinean writer shows the life of the native people of his west African island destroyed by distant rulers.
74.
By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah EN
TanzaniaDescription:
On a late November afternoon Saleh Omar arrives at Gatwick Airport from Zanzibar, a far away island in the Indian Ocean. With him he has a small bag in which there lies his most precious possession - a mahogany box containing incense. He used to own a furniture shop, have a house and be a husband and father. Now he is an asylum seeker from paradise; silence his only protection. Meanwhile Latif Mahmud, someone intimately connected with Saleh's past, lives quietly alone in his London flat. When Saleh and Latif meet in an English seaside town, a story is unravelled. It is a story of love and betr... continue
75.
Call and Response by Gothataone Moeng EN
BotswanaDescription:
'A terrific collection' Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane and Love Marriage A Most Anticipated Title for Oprah Daily, Essence, BuzzFeed, The Millions and Brittle Paper Full of heart and humour, Gothataone Moeng's first collection, set between the rural village of Serowe and the thrumming capital city of Gaborone, captures a chorus of voices from a country in flux. Meet a young woman who has worn the same mourning clothes for almost a year, and a teenage girl who shies away from the room where her once vibrant aunt lies dying. Elsewhere, watch as a younger sister hides her romantic exploits from... continue
76.
Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin EN
SomaliaDescription:
Abdi Nor Iftin first fell in love with America from afar. As a child, he learned English by listening to American pop and watching action films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. When U.S. marines landed in Mogadishu to take on the warlords, Abdi cheered the arrival of these Americans, who seemed as heroic as those of the movies. Sporting American clothes and dance moves, he became known around Mogadishu as Abdi American, but when the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab rose to power in 2006, it became dangerous to celebrate Western culture. Desperate to make a living, Abdi used his language skills... continue
77.
Call Me by Your Name : A Novel by André Aciman EN
EgyptDescription:
The sudden and powerful attraction between a teenage boy and a summer guest at his parents' house on the Italian Riviera has a profound and lasting influence that will mark them both for a lifetime.
78.
Chaka by Thomas Mofolo EN
LesothoDescription:
This novel is the first of many works of literature that takes the great Zulu leader, king, and emperor as its subject.
79.
Chiquinho : A Novel of Cabo Verde by Baltasar Lopes da Silva EN
Country: Africa / 
Cape Verde
Cape Verde
Description:
Originally published in Portuguese in 1947, Baltazar Lopes's Chiquinho offers a rich and compelling exploration of Cabo Verde's unique identity. Tracing the arc of its young protagonist's life as he approaches adulthood, the novel follows Chiquinho as he leaves his village, journeys to São Vicente Island to further his education, returns home as drought and famine strike the archipelago, and makes the difficult decision to join his father in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Reflecting the challenges faced by the Creole intellectuals of the so-called Claridade generation, this long-overdue English t... continue
80.
Co-Wives, Co-Widows by Adrienne Yabouza EN
Country: Africa / 
Central African Republic
Central African Republic
Description:
Co-Wives, Co-Widows is the first adult work of fiction from the Central African Republic to be translated into English. This is the story of Ndongo Passy and Grekpoubou, the two widows of Lidou. Following their husband's sudden and unexplained death, they find themselves fighting tooth and nail for all that is important to them. A playful, bittersweet, story full of dry wit and local colour, set against a backdrop of political instability, corruption and the friction between the old and the new in Bangui in the Central African Republic.