Read Around Africa Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Africa.
Best books from Africa (810)
771.
Kumukanda by Kayombo Chingonyi EN
ZambiaDescription:
*Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2018* *Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award 2018* 'A brilliant debut - a tender, nostalgic and, at times, darkly hilarious exploration of black boyhood, masculinity and grief. A gorgeous and necessary collection from one of my favourite writers' Warsan Shire Translating as 'initiation', kumukanda is the name given to the rites a young boy from the Luvale tribe must pass through before he is considered a man. The poems of Kayo Chingonyi's remarkable debut explore this passage: between two worlds, ancestral and contemporary; between the living and the dead; betw... continue
772.
La deriva by Namwali Serpell ES
Description:
"En el prefacio de una antología de la literatura rusa Vladimir Nabokov declaró que no había encontrado una sola página de Dostoievski digna de ser incluida,...Dostoievski no debe ser juzgado por cada página sino por la suma de páginas que componen el libro." Jorge L. Borges: Prólogo a Los Demonios, de F. Dostoievski. (A su vez, Nabokov decía sobre la literatura de Borges "Esperaba encontrarme con una catedral, y me encontré con un zaguán").
De la misma manera, en La deriva tal vez no se encuentre alguna... continue
773.
A Blood Condition by Kayo Chingonyi EN
Description:
A Blood Condition tells a story of inheritance - the people, places, cultures and memories that form us. Kayo Chingonyi explores how distance and time, nations and a century's history, can collapse within a body; our past continuous in our present. From London, Leeds, and The North East to the banks of the Zambezi river, these poems consider change and permanence, grief and joy, the painful ongoing process of letting go, with remarkable music and clarity.
774.
Patchwork by Ellen Banda-Aaku EN
Description:
Everyone calls me Pumpkin. Firstly, because I was a fat, chubby-cheeked baby. And, secondly, because when Ma was pregnant with me, no matter how much pumpkin she ate, she just couldn't get enough ...'. Lusaka. 1978. Pumpkin is nine years old. Her fashionable mother is the queen of Tudu Court, but underneath the veneer of respectability that her father's money provides lies a secret that threatens their whole world - the tall, elegant Totela Ponga is a drunk. And when Pumpkin's father - the wealthy businessman JS - discovers her mother's alcoholism it sets in motion a chain of events that come ... continue
775.
The Mourning Bird by Mubanga Kalimamukwento EN
Description:
When eleven-year-old Chimuka and her younger brother Ali find themselves orphaned in the 1990s, it's clear that their seemingly ordinary Zambian family is brimming with secrets: from HIV/AIDS to infidelity to suicide. Faced with the difficult choice of living with their abusive extended family or slithering into the dark underbelly of Lusaka's streets, Chimuka and Ali escape and become street kids. Against the backdrop of a failed military coup, election riots and a declining economy, Chimuka and Ali are raised by drugs, crime and police brutality. As a teenager, Chimuka is caught between pros... continue
776.
How the West was Lost : Fifty Years of Economic Folly - and the Stark Choices Ahead by Dambisa Moyo EN
Description:
"We think we know what's coming. But is it already too late? "How the West Was Lost" is a wake-up call for all of us. Dambisa Moyo argues that during the last fifty years the most advanced countries on earth have squandered their advantage through fatally flawed policies: obsessing over property, ravenously consuming and building up debt instead of investing. Here Moyo outlines solutions that could help stem the tide. By rethinking many of the things we take for granted, she shows, it may yet be possible for the West to get back into the race." -- Back cover.
777.
Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin EN
Description:
"Baking Cakes in Kigali" is a novel about the real meaning of reconciliation - about how, in the aftermath of tragedy, life goes on and people still manage to find reasons to celebrate.
778.
The Lions' Den by Iris Mwanza EN
Description:
Rookie lawyer Grace Zulu does not give up easily. She escaped an arranged marriage to put herself through university. Now she's got her first case. Her client is young Willbess 'Bessy' Mulenga, who has been arrested for offences 'against nature'. Bessy works in a men-only bar, loves to dance, to wear dresses and live freely. But in 1990's Zambia, following your own identity can get you beaten, jailed or even worse. Grace is determined to get Bessy out of custody. Then her terrified, bruised client goes missing without a trace. She knows something bad has happened, and that someone is trying to... continue
780.
Obligations to the Wounded : Stories by Mubanga Kalimamukwento EN
Description:
In formally adventurous stories rooted in Zambian literary tradition, Obligations to the Wounded explores the expectations and burdens of womanhood in Zambia and for Zambian women living abroad. The collection converses with global social problems through the depiction of games, social media feuds, letters, and folklore to illustrate how girls and women manage religious expectation, migration, loss of language, death, intimate partner violence, and racial discrimination. Although the women and girls inhabiting these pages are separated geographically and by life stage, their shared burdens, cu... continue