Popular African Memoir Books
Find memoir books written by authors from Africa for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (58)
31.
Of Water and the Spirit—Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman by Malidoma Patrice Somé EN
Country: Africa / 
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Description:
Maliodoma Patrice Some was born in a Dagara Village, however he was soon to be abducted to a Jesuit school, where he remained for the next fifteen years, being harshly indoctrinated into european ways of thought and worship. The story tells of his return to his people, his hard initiation back into those people, which lead to his desire to convey their knowledge to the world. Of Water and the Spirit is the result of that desire; it is a sharing of living African traditions, offered in compassion for those struggling with our contemporary crisis of the spirit.
32.
One Day I Will Write about This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina EN
KenyaDescription:
A groundbreaking memoir by the acclaimed Kenyan Caine Prize winner.
33.
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.
34.
Seed of South Sudan : Memoir of a “Lost Boy” Refugee by Majok Marier, Estelle Ford-Williamson EN
Country: Africa / South Sudan
South Sudan
Description:
One of the most detailed books on the Lost Boys of Sudan since South Sudan became the world’s newest nation in 2011, this is a memoir of Majok Marier, an Agar Dinka who was 7 when war came to his village in southern Sudan. During a 21-year civil war, 2 million lives were lost and 80 percent of the South Sudanese people were displaced. Tens of thousands of boys like Majok fled from the Sudanese Army that wanted to kill them. Surviving on grasses, grains, and help from villagers along the way, Majok walked nearly a thousand miles to a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Majok and 3,800 like him emigrated ... continue
35.
Shelf Life : Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller by Nadia Wassef EN
EgyptDescription:
The warm and winning story of opening a modern bookstore where there were none, Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller recounts Nadia Wassef’s troubles and triumphs as a founder and manager of Cairo-based Diwan The streets of Cairo make strange music. The echoing calls to prayer; the raging insults hurled between drivers; the steady crescendo of horns honking; the shouts of street vendors; the television sets and radios blaring from every sidewalk. Nadia Wassef knows this song by heart. In 2002, with her sister, Hind, and their friend, Nihal, she founded Diwan, a fiercely independent boo... continue
36.
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.
37.
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
38.
Stolen Livers by Malika Oufkir, Michele Fitoussi EN
MoroccoDescription:
Malika Oufkir has been a prisoner for most of her life in 1972 her father was executed. Malika and her family were sent to a desert gaol. In 1996 she was able to leave Morocco to begin a new life in France.
39.
The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga EN
RwandaDescription:
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE A moving, unforgettable tribute to a Tutsi woman who did everything to protect her children from the Rwandan genocide, by the daughter who refuses to let her family's story be forgotten. The story of the author's mother, a fierce, loving woman who for years protected her family from the violence encroaching upon them in pre-genocide Rwanda. Recording her memories of their life together in spare, wrenching prose, Mukasonga preserves her mother's voice in a haunting work of art.
40.
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