Somalia flag Books from Somalia

19 popular somali books
Travel the world without leaving your chair. The target of the Read Around The World Challenge is to read at least one book written by an author from each and every country in the world. All books that are listed here as part of the "Read Around Africa Challenge" were written by authors from Somalia. Find a great book for the next part of your reading journey around the world from this book list. The following popular books have been recommended so far.

1.

A Woman of Firsts by Edna Adan Ismail EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Somalia flag Somalia
Description:
'The Muslim Mother Teresa' Huffington Post Imprisonment. Mutilation. Persecution. Edna Adan Ismail endured it all - for the women of Africa.

2.

Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Somalia flag Somalia
Description:
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.

3.

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head : Poems by Warsan Shire EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Country: Africa / Somalia flag Somalia
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

4.

Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Somalia flag Somalia
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

5.

Desert Dawn by Waris Dirie EN

Rating: 4 (3 votes)
Country: Africa / Somalia flag Somalia
Description:
Fashion model, UN ambassador and courageous spirit, Waris Dirie is a remarkable woman, born into a traditional family of tribal desert nomads in Somalia. She told her story - enduring, at five years old, the ancient and savage custom of female circumcision; running away at twelve on foot through the desert in order to escape an arranged marriage; being discovered by Terence Donovan as she worked as a cleaner in London; and becoming a top fashion model - in her book, the worldwide bestseller, Desert Flower. Although Waris Dirie fled her homeland, she never forgot the country and culture that mo... continue

6.

Desert Flower : The Extraordinary Journey of a Desert Nomad by Waris Dirie EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Somalia flag Somalia
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.

7.

From a crooked rib by Nuruddin Farah EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Somalia flag Somalia
Description:
Written with complete conviction from a woman's point of view, Nuruddin Farah's spare, shocking first novel savagely attacks the traditional values of his people yet is also a haunting celebration of the unbroken human spirit. Ebla, an orphan of eighteen, runs away from her nomadic encampment in rural Somalia when she discovers that her grandfather has promised her in marriage to an older man. But even after her escape to Mogadishu, she finds herself as powerless and dependent on men as she was out in the bush. As she is propelled through servitude, marriage, poverty, and violence, Ebla has to... continue
Genre

8.

Hiding in Plain Sight by Nuruddin Farah EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Somalia flag Somalia
Description:
When Bella, an internationally known fashion photographer, dazzling and aloof, is forced to return to Nairobi to care for her teenage niece and nephew, she feels an unfamiliar surge of protectiveness and responsibility. But when their mother unexpectedly resurfaces, reasserting her maternal rights and bringing with her a gale of chaos and confusion that mirrors the deepening political instability in the region, Bella must decide whether she can – or must – come to their rescue.
Genre

9.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Somalia flag Somalia
Description:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her life story. An advocate for free speech and women's rights, Hirsi Ali lives under armed protection because of her outspoken criticism of the Islamic faith in which she was raised.

10.

Keeping Hope Alive : One Woman: 90,000 Lives Changed by Dr. Hawa Abdi EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Somalia flag Somalia
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


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