An African Reading List

While we at the Riot take some time off to rest and catch up on our reading, we’re re-running some of our favorite posts from the last several months. Enjoy our highlight reel, and we’ll be back with new stuff on Monday, January 5th. This post originally ran September 24, 2014. _________________________ If you’re like me and are trying to diversify your reading, then you know that discoverability is an issue. I want to start reading more books by non-U.S. and UK authors, but where do I start? Well, if you’re interested in African authors, here’s what I’ve got. Through extensive Googling and suggestions from fellow Rioters, I’ve compiled the following list. These are fiction books by African authors, sorted by country. Not every African country is represented here, though I did my best. All of these books are available for purchase in the U.S. If an author has written multiple books (such as Achebe or Adichie), I listed just one so you’d have the author’s name. I also did not have any sort of genre/format restriction, so though most of these are adult literary fiction, not all of them are. I can’t necessarily recommend these books one way or another because many of them I haven’t read (though I have read a good number), but hopefully this list will get you started. I absolutely know I missed books on this list, so please feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments, as well as provide recommendations if you have read some of these books. Algeria The Attack – Yasmina Khadra The Bridges of Constantine – Ahlem Mosteghanemi Angola Good Morning Comrades – Ondjaki Botswana The Screaming of the Innocent – Unity Dow Cameroon Houseboy – Ferdinand Oyono Democratic Republic of Congo Johnny Mad Dog – Emmanuel Dongala Emmanuel Dongala Broken Glass – Alain Mabanckou The Witch Doctor’s Wife – Tamar Myers Life and a Half – Sony Lanou Tansi Djibouti In the United States of Africa – Abdourahman A. Waberi Egypt The Yacubian Building – Alaa Al Aswany The Cairo Trilogy – Naguib Mahfouz The Map of Love – Ahdaf Soueif Ethiopia All Our Names – Dinaw Mengestu Beneath the Lion’s Gaze – Maaza Mengiste Cutting for Stone – Abraham Verghese Ghana Our Sister Killjoy – Ama Ata Aidoo The Seasons of Beento Blackbird – Akosua Busia Faceless – Amma Darko Wife of the Gods – Kwei Quartay Ghana Must Go – Taiye Selasi Ivory Coast Aya: Life in Yop City – Marguerite Abouet, Clement Oubrerie, Helge Dascher Allah is Not Obliged – Ahamdou Kourouma Kenya The Cockroach Dance – Meja Mwangi Nairobi Heat – Mukoma Wa Ngugi A Grain of Wheat – Ngugi wa Thiong’o The In-Between World of Vikram Lall – M.G. Vassanji Lesotho Chaka – Thomas Mofolo Liberia Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile – Won-Ldy Paye Libya Gold Dust – Ibrahim al-Koni In the Country of Men – Hisham Matar Malawi The Last of the Sweet Bananas: New and Selected Poems – Jack Mapanje Mali The Fortunes of Wangrin – Amadou Hampate Ba Mauritius The Last Brother – Nathacha Appanah Morocco The Lovers of Algeria – Anouar Benmalek Horses of God – Mahi Binebine The Moor’s Account – Laila Lalami Mozambique Under the Frangipani – Mia Couto Namibia The Purple Violet of Oshaantu – Neshami Andreas Nigeria No Longer at Ease – Chinua Achebe [edited for misspelling] Say You’re One of Them – Uwem Akpan Everything Good Will Come – Sefi Atta Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Open City – Teju Cole Oil on Water – Helon Habila Daughters Who Walk This Path – Yejide Kilanko Foreign Gods, Inc – Okey Ndibe I Do Not Come to You by Chance – Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani Akata Witch – Nnedi Okorafor The Famished Road – Ben Okri The Secret Lives of the Four Wives – Lola Shoneyin Senegal So Long a Letter – Mariama Ba Sierra Leone Radiance of Tomorrow – Ishmael Beah The Memory of Love – Aminatta Forna Somalia Crossbones – Nuruddin Farah The Orchard of Lost Souls – Nadifa Mohamed South Africa Broken Monsters – Lauren Beukes Disgrace – J. M. Coetzee The October Killings – Wessel Ebersohn In a Strange Room – Damon Galgut The Conservationist – Nadine Gordimer The Three – Sarah Lotz Ways of Dying – Zakes Mda Sudan Minaret – Leila Aboulela Tanzania Paradise – Abdulrazak Gurnah Uganda Tropical Fish: Tales from Entebbe – Doreen Baingana Abyssinain Chronicles – Moses Isegawa Zambia Patchwork – Ellen Banda-Aaku Baking Cakes in Kigali – Gaile Parkin Zimbabwe We Need New Names – NoViolet Bulawayo Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga The Hairdresser of Harare – Tendai Huchu The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith ____________________ The Book Riot Store is here! Get your favorite Book Riot t-shirts, bookish totes, and other literary swag to wear, share, and show off!