Popular African Biography Books
Find biography books written by authors from Africa for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (71)
41.
Running for My Life : One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games by Lopez Lomong, Mark Tabb EN
Country: Africa / 
South Sudan
South Sudan
Description:
This is a story about outrunning the devil and achieving the impossible faith, diligence, and the desire to give back. Lomong chronicles his inspiring ascent from a barefoot lost boy of the Sudanese Civil War to a Nike sponsored athlete on the US Olympic Team. He shares his commitment to keep moving forward and find God in each step.
42.
Second-class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta EN
NigeriaDescription:
When Adah's dream of moving to England becomes a reality, she soon discovers that life for a young Nigerian woman living in London in the 1960s is far from what she had imagined. The cold weather and cramped, crumbling accommodation might become bearable, were it not for her tyrannical husband who abuses the power conferred on him by traditional Igbo culture and provides precious little support of any kind. As Adah finds herself providing for her rapidly growing family - rescuing her children from the hands of a slovenly childminder, learning the unspoken rules of society and negotiating every... continue
43.
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.
44.
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
45.
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.
46.
Soundjata : ein Mandingo-Epos by Djibril Tamsir Niane DE
GuineaDescription:
D. T. Niane (1932 - 2021), Historiker aus Guinea, lässt das alte Afrika zu uns sprechen. Er ist zu einem der Griots (nämlich Djeli Mamadou Kouyaté) gegangen, und hat aufgezeichnet, was diesem - zwar fantastisch ausgeschmückt, aber im Kern unverfälscht - über Generationen von dem Leben und den Taten des legendär gewordenen Großkönigs Soundjata überliefert wurde. Wir erfahren die Geschichten des "Helden mit den vielen Namen", Sohn des Büffels und des Löwen, der im 13. Jahrhundert zum Begründer des mächtigen Mandin... continue
47.
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
48.
The Autobiography of an African Princess by Fatima Massaquoi EN
Country: Africa / 
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Description:
This critical edition of Princess Fatima Massaquoi's memoirs begins with her birth in southern Sierra Leone, continues through her childhood in Liberia, moves on to Hamburg, Germany, where she lived and experienced the rise of the Nazi movement, and ends with her life in the United States.
49.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer EN
MalawiDescription:
Now a Netflix film starring and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, this is a gripping memoir of survival and perseverance about the heroic young inventor who brought electricity to his Malawian village. When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season's crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, looking for a solution. There, he came up with the idea that would change his family's life forever: he could build a windmill. Made out of scrap metal and old bicycle... continue
50.
The Boy who Met Jesus : Segatashya of Kibeho by Immaculée Ilibagiza EN
RwandaDescription:
It's the greatest story never told: that of a boy who met Jesus and dared to ask him all the questions that have consumed mankind since the dawn of time. No matter what one's faith or religious beliefs are, Segatashya's words will bring comfort and joy.