18+ Years African Literature Group: What We Have Read
This list, alphabetized by author, was annotated by Roberta Logan with updates by Barbara B. Brown & Elsa Wiehe.
Updated in May 2025.
Graceland by Chris Abani, Set in post-colonial Nigeria Graceland takes us to the urban edge that Adichie and Teju Cole only hint at; Abani tackles head-on. One reviewer commented, “Abani shows how life is balanced on the blade of a knife.”
Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is about the experiences of a young woman from Nigeria who negotiates life in the U.S. and in Nigeria, intertwined with her love story with her high school classmate.
Half Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Based loosely on political events in nineteen-sixties Nigeria, this novel focuses on two wealthy Igbo sisters who drift apart as the newly independent nation struggles to remain unified.
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a complex tale of Kambili, a young girl growing up in Nigeria.
So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba explores the lives of a group of resilient women in newly independent Senegal.
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Beah recounts his own journey of transformation from a boy to soldier in modern day Sierra Leone and ultimately to the man he is today.
Yoruba Girl Dancing by Simi Bedford. A semiautobiographical first novel about a Nigerian girl’s adjustment to life at an English boarding school.
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. An older sister unravels the truth about her younger sister’s murderous habit.
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo. A novel of a child growing up in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe and then moving to the US. (Winner of the Pen Hemingway Prize.)
Floating in a Most Peculiar Way, by Louis Chude Sokei is an autobiographical text whereby the author tells the story of his and his family’s life between Biafra, Jamaica, and the U.S. An excellent text to learn about multiple identities.
Everyday Is For The Thief by Teju Cole takes place in 21st century Nigeria and will lead us into a discussion of his adventures in Nigeria, its contradictions, as well as the boundaries of genre.
Nervous Conditions, written by Tsitsi Dangarembga in 1989, is a semi-autobiographical coming of age story about a young woman growing up in colonial Rhodesia in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré is the story of daring and tender Adunni who learns to speak for herself as she faces major life obstacles. Set in Nigeria.
At Night All Blood is Black, by David Diop (trans.) describes the life of Alfa Ndiaye and his friendship with Mademba Diop, both tirailleurs sénégalais in the First World War. A heartbreaking tale of friendship, life, and death. This book won the Prix Goncourt 2021.
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emery focuses on the life of Vivek Oji as she grapples with becoming Nnemdi, surrounded by her cousins and family. A gripping novel that speaks to themes of gender identity, sexual orientation, public and private lives, mothering love, and finding freedom.
Ancestor Stones, a novel by Aminatta Forna, explores the lives of women in a polygamous family in an unnamed African country. Forna allows each woman to tell her own story within a society in transition over the better part of a century: colonialism, independence and the horrors of civil war.
Happiness by Aminatta Forna is a novel focused on two people who have already lived rich, complex lives. Strangers meet and their lives slowly change.
The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna explores the effects of war and the endurance and significance of memory and secrets.
The Island by Athol Fugard, a play set in the political prison, Robben Island, during the period of apartheid.
Master Harold and the Boys, a play by Athol Fugard is a play, set in South Africa during the period of Apartheid was first performed in 1982. This eloquent and elegant play depicts both the personal and the political.
Burger’s Daughter, by Nadine Gordimer, set in apartheid South Africa. The story of a young white woman coming to terms with who she is and who she could become. (Gordimer won the Nobel Literature Prize.)
July’s People by Nadine Gordimer explores the question of how life might be after a revolution in South Africa from the vantage point of a white South African family.
Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. This coming-of-age story tells the story of Yusuf who moves from rural East Africa to the coast and it richly describes life in pre-colonial East Africa.
Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi is an immensely popular historical fiction that recounts the story of one family’s fractured experience from the time of the triangular trade through multiple generations in both Ghana and the US until today. It’s both a great read and an exploration.
Travelers by Helon Habila invites the reader to hear the stories of migrants from Africa to Europe from a fresh perspective.
The Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu gives us a snapshot of life during what has become the last days of Robert Mugabe’s presidency. Published in 2015 it sheds light on what men/women on the street may be thinking about contemporary issues.
Season of Crimson Blossoms, by Abukar Adam Ibrahim. Set in Abuja, Nigeria, it tells the story of 55-year old Hajiya Binta’s affair with young Reza. Themes that the novel engages with are Northern Nigerian society, postcolonial politics, gender, sexuality, Islam (Northern Nigeria)
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko’s young adult fantasy is a world that young and older can immerse themselves in.
Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire is written as a series of letters that share stories and impart wisdom.
The Return is a memoir by Hisham Matar that was first published in June 2016. Its focus is Matar’s return to his native Libya in 2012 to search for the truth behind the 1990 disappearance of his father, a prominent political dissident during the Gaddafi regime.
My Friends by Hisham Matar tells the story of Khaled and two friends, Mustafa and Hosam, as they negotiate their life in exile from Lybia, their deep friendship with one another, and their varying senses of responsibility to join the anti-Qaddafi revolution.
How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue tells the story of the people of a village whose lives are irreparably transformed by the arrival of an American oil company. An excellent story to understand the way individuals negotiate, and are impacted by larger systems.
Dreams of Trespass by Fatimah Mernissi is a tapestry of stories set in the 1940’s depicting life in a harem through the eyes of a young girl growing up in Morocco.
The Heart of Redness, by Zakes Mda. At the center of this novel is an expatriate returning to the New South Africa, Mda explores what happens when he becomes immersed in a community that has to grapple with the sediment of history and present day dilemmas in a time of change.
The Madonna of Excelsior by Zakes Mda takes a shocking event in small-town apartheid South Africa and offers surprising new ways of seeing and understanding black women’s resistance to degradation.
The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste. This novel takes place during the second Italo-Ethiopian war (1930s), highlighting the participation of Ethiopian women during that war and grows out of the experiences of the author’s grandparents.
The Dragons, The Giant, The Women by Wayetu Moore’s memoir of her family’s escape from Liberia during a civil war and her life as a young émigré in the United States.
She Would Be King by Wayetu Moore blends historical fiction with magical realism weaving a nuanced story of the formation of Liberia.
Mzungu Boy by Meja Mwangi explores a budding friendship between two boys, just as Kenya’s resistance movement is heating up. (A Young Adult winner of multiple prizes.)
Sundiata Translated by D.T. Niane and retold by generations of griots, the guardians of African culture. This oral tradition has been handed down from the thirteenth century and captures all the mystery and majesty of medieval African kingship.
Dangerous Love by Ben Okri tells the story of Omovo an artist and his family life, and most importantly his impossible love, in the context of the Nigerian civil war.
Dust by Yvonne Owuor has been described as the symphony of memories, love and grief that chronicles one family and what remains after the death of a son.
Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah, the host of TV’s Daily Show, is a coming of age memoir that also gives a glimpse of growing up during Apartheid. It’s been described as compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime.
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor is our first science fiction/fantasy novel. It explores a vaguely described country at the edge of the Sahel in post-apocalyptic Africa. The narrative blends a heroine’s journey with myth, magic and issues many cultures are facing today.
Sankofa, by Chibundu Onuzo is a story of Anna, raised in London, who in her 40s returns to Africa on a quest to find the father she has never met after finding his diary.
Far from Home, by Na’ima B. Robert. A young adult novel of two girls in late colonial Zimbabwe, one the daughter of settlers and the other the daughter of a family displaced from their ancestral land.
*Children of the Street and Wife of the Gods, two mysteries set in Ghana by Kwei Quartey.
Gold of Our Fathers by Kwei Quartey is a Darko Dawson murder mystery. Set in the heart of the gold mining region of Ghana, this mystery is laced with the entanglements of the lives of laborers and globalization.
Sleep Well My lady by Kwei Quartey is the second in his series focusing on Emma Djan, a lady detective.
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi tells the story of an Egyptian woman who descends into prostitution as well as her defiance in the face of disapproval.
The Wedding of Zein, a novella by Tayeb Salih, is a delightful, well-paced quick read about a colorful community and the very lovable man at its center.
God’s Bits of Wood, historical fiction by Ousmane Sembene, recounts the story of a railway strike that occurred in 1947 in French West Africa.
Cairo, a City Transformed, by Adhaf Soueif. Through a map of stories, Soueif charts a story of the 2012 ”Arab Spring” revolution that is both intimately hers and publicly Egyptian.
Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif is an extraordinary cross-cultural love story that unfurls across Egypt, England, and the United States over the course of a century.
Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka. An autobiographical account about events in his childhood between about 1934 and 1945 in the town of Ake in present-day Nigeria. (Soyinka won the Nobel Literature Prize.)
Flying Through Water by Mamle Wolo is about a child taken by human traffickers in the lake Volta region of Ghana, and his story of escape, survival, and resilience. Upper elementary and middle grade readers will enjoy themes of social class, environmental conservation, and adventure in this book.