An African Reading List
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
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
