African Literature

Writing has always been a serious business for me. I felt it was a moral obligation. A major concern of the time was the absence of the African voice. Being part of that dialogue meant not only sitting at the table but effectively telling the African story from an African perspective - in full earshot of the world.
~Chinua Achebe

You've probably heard of the late Chinua Achebe and Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Maybe you've read Nadine Gordimer or J.M. Coetzee, Naguib Mahfouz or Nuruddin Farah. But how much do you really know about contemporary African literature?  Well, we're no experts, but we've compiled a list of notable reads, from short stories to thrillers and even one graphic novel, written by authors from a variety of African countries.


Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste

Notes From the Hyena's Belly: An Ethiopian Boyhood by Nega Mezlekia

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

No Sweetness Here and Other Stories by Ama Ata Aidoo
 
Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela

Butterfly Burning by Yvonne Vera

Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa [eBook]

Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou  [eBook]

Aya by Marguerite Abouet   

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi

Oil On Water by Helon Habila

Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

A Bit of Difference by Sefi Atta

Migritude by Shailja Patel 

Black Diamond by Zakes Mda 
  Foreign Gods, Inc. by Okey Ndibe

Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar

Welcome to Our Hillbrow: A Novel of Postapartheid South Africa by Phaswane Mpe  [eBook]

An African Quilt: 24 Modern African Stories edited by Barbara H. Solomon  [eBook]

Under African Skies: Modern African Stories edited by Charles R. Larson

    
Links

The best books on Ethiopia: start your reading here [Guardian]

The 10 best contemporary African books [Guardian]

Ten African Novels You Should Know [BET]

Africa's 100 best books of the 20th Century [African Studies Centre Leiden]

The 15 Best Fiction Novels by Black Authors in 2014 [The Root]

Popular African Literature [Goodreads]