Popular African Cultural Books

Find cultural books written by authors from Africa for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (48)

11.

Butter Honey Pig Bread : A Novel by Francesca Ekwuyasi EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Country: Africa / Nigeria flag Nigeria
Description:
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

12.

Chiquinho : A Novel of Cabo Verde by Baltasar Lopes da Silva EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Cape Verde flag 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


14.

Ghost Season : A Novel by Fatin Abbas EN

Rating: 4 (2 votes)
Country: Africa / Sudan flag Sudan
Description:
A dynamic, beautifully orchestrated debut novel connecting five characters caught in the crosshairs of conflict on the Sudanese border. A mysterious burnt corpse appears one morning in Saraaya, a remote border town between northern and southern Sudan. For five strangers on an NGO compound, the discovery foreshadows trouble to come. South Sudanese translator William connects the corpse to the sudden disappearance of cook Layla, a northern nomad with whom he’s fallen in love. Meanwhile, Sudanese American filmmaker Dena struggles to connect to her unfamiliar homeland, and white midwestern aid wor... continue

15.

Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Nigeria flag Nigeria
Description:
A moving debut story collection centered on Nigerian women, as they build lives out of longing and hope, faith and doubt, the struggle to stay and the mandate to leave, and the burden and strength of love.

16.

Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Morocco flag Morocco
Description:
Set in modern-day Morocco, the story of four vastly different Moroccans who illegally cross the Strait of Gibraltar in an inflatable boat headed for Spain chronicles the circumstances that drive them to risk their lives and the rewards that may or may not prove to be worth the danger.

17.

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue EN

Rating: 4 (5 votes)
Country: Africa / Cameroon flag Cameroon
Description:
Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, Imbolo Mbue tells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. The country's government, led by a brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interest only. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back

18.

Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais EN

Rating: 5 (3 votes)
Description:
Perfect for readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Help, a perceptive and searing look at Apartheid-era South Africa, told through one unique family brought together by tragedy. Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have ... continue

19.

If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais EN

0 Ratings
Description:
A rich, unforgettable story of three unique women in post-Apartheid South Africa who are brought together in their darkest time and discover the ways that love can transcend the strictest of boundaries. In a squatter camp on the outskirts of Johannesburg, seventeen-year-old Zodwa lives in desperate poverty, under the shadowy threat of a civil war and a growing AIDS epidemic. Eight months pregnant, Zodwa carefully guards secrets that jeopardize her life. Across the country, wealthy socialite Ruth appears to have everything her heart desires, but it's what she can't have that leads to her breakd... continue