Read Around Africa Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Africa.
Best books from Africa (893)
661.
Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed EN
SomaliaDescription:
Jama is a half-feral child scavenging in the streets of a great seaport. After his mother dies, Jama decides to search for his never-seen father. So begins Jama's extraordinary journey of more than a thousand miles north all the way to Egypt.
662.
Desert Flower : The Extraordinary Journey of a Desert Nomad by Waris Dirie EN
Description:
Waris Dirie ran away from her oppressive life in the African desert when she was barely in her teens, illiterate and impoverished, with nothing to her name but a tattered shawl. She traveled alone across the dangerous Somali desert to Mogadishu—the first leg of a remarkable journey that would take her to London, where she worked as a house servant; then to nearly every corner of the globe as an internationally renowned fashion model; and ultimately to New York City, where she became a human rights ambassador for the U.N. Desert Flower is her extraordinary story.
663.
Twin Ambitions : My Autobiography by Mo Farah EN
Description:
The remarkable story of a boy from Somalia who came to Britain at the age of 8, leaving behind his twin brother, speaking only a few words of English, and with a yearning to play for Arsenal. Fortunately his PE teacher spotted his talent for speed on the pitch and began to steer this human cheetah towards the racetrack. Here, Mo reveals all the highs and lows of his life and sporting career to date.
665.
Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin EN
Description:
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
666.
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head : Poems by Warsan Shire EN
Description:
Poems of migration, womanhood, trauma, and resilience from the celebrated collaborator on Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Black Is King, award-winning Somali British poet Warsan Shire “The beautifully crafted poems in this collection are fiercely tender gifts.”—Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist “Shire is the real thing—fresh, cutting, indisputably alive.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times Mama, I made it / out of your home / alive, raised by / the voices / in my head. With her first full-length poetry collection, Warsan Shire introduces us to a young girl, who, in the absence of a nurturing guide, mak... continue
668.
North of Dawn : A Novel by Nuruddin Farah EN
Description:
A couple's tranquil life abroad is irrevocably transformed by the arrival of their son's widow and children, in the latest from Somalia's most celebrated novelist. For decades, Gacalo and Mugdi have lived in Oslo, where they've led a peaceful, largely assimilated life and raised two children. Their beloved son, Dhaqaneh, however, is driven by feelings of alienation to jihadism in Somalia, where he kills himself in a suicide attack. The couple reluctantly offers a haven to his family. But on arrival in Oslo, their daughter-in-law cloaks herself even more deeply in religion, while her children h... continue
669.
Description:
Returning to Mogadishu, Somalia, from New York after a twenty-year exile, Jeebleh finds a troubled and devastated city ruled by clan warlords and patrolled by violent gangs of thugs, as he works to settle his late mother's outstanding accounts and aids an old friend whose youngest child has been abducted. Reprint.
670.
Keeping Hope Alive : One Woman: 90,000 Lives Changed by Dr. Hawa Abdi EN
Description:
The moving memoir of one brave woman who, along with her daughters, has kept 90,000 of her fellow citizens safe, healthy, and educated for over 20 years in Somalia. Dr. Hawa Abdi, "the Mother Teresa of Somalia" and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, is the founder of a massive camp for internally displaced people located a few miles from war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia. Since 1991, when the Somali government collapsed, famine struck, and aid groups fled, she has dedicated herself to providing help for people whose lives have been shattered by violence and poverty. She turned her 1300 acres of farmland int... continue