Africa by
black Africans
Literature written by the many voices of black Africa
Abani, Chris. (Nigeria) Song for Night
Main, Fic Abani
My Luck, a West African boy soldier who has lost his voice, leads the reader on
a terrifying yet beautiful journey through the nightmare landscape of a brutal
war in search of his lost platoon. Masterful, haunting, and written in a ghostly
yet lyrical voice, Abani has written a remarkable and empathetic story of
courage, grace, morality and triumph. (Synopsis: cover) Other titles of
interest: Graceland, The Virgin of Flames, Becoming Abigail.
Abani’s poetry is also compelling: Daphne’s Lot, Kalakuta Republic
(memoir of his time as a political prisoner), Dog Woman, and Hands
Washing Water.
Aboulela, Leila. (Sudan) The Translator
Main, Fic Aboulela
Sammar is a Sudanese widow working as an Arabic translator at a Scottish
University when she begins to translate for Rae, a secular Islamic scholar. The
two develop a deep friendship that awakens in Sammar all the longing for life
she has repressed. As Rae and Sammar fall in love, she knows they will have to
address his lack of faith in all that Sammar holds sacred. (Synopsis: cover)
Other titles of interest: Minaret.
Achebe, Chinua. (Nigeria) Girls at War and other stories.
West, Fic Achebe
Best known for his book, Things Fall Apart, Achebe has written several
short stories that reveal the essence of life in Nigeria. These twelve stories
recreate with energy and authenticity the major social and political issues that
confronted contemporary Africans on a daily basis. Other titles of interest:
Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, Anthills of the Savannah, and
No Longer at Ease among others.
Aidoo, Ama Ata. (Ghana) Changes: A Love Story
Main, Fic Aidoo
Married and with a daughter as the novel opens, Esi chooses divorce and a life
focused on work. When she falls in love with an attractive man—married, wealthy
and able to arrange a polygamous marriage—the modern woman finds herself facing
a new set of problems. Despite its African setting, Changes mirrors
universal feminist conflicts and concerns. An after word provides details about
Aidoo’s life and places the book in historical context. (Synopsis: cover) Other
titles of interest: Our Sister Killjoy, The Girl Who Can, and
No Sweetness Here and other stories.
Head, Bessie. (South Africa) The Cardinals: With Meditations and Short
Stories.
Main, Fic Head
It is the 1960’s in South Africa. Blacks and whites are segregated, in life and
love. In the title story, a job as a reporter on the African Beat forces Mouse
to open her eyes to the newsroom sexism and everyday stories of racial
repression and political muck-raking. But it is her relationship with newshound
Johnny that is the greatest challenge to her loveless solitude. Bessie Head was
born in South Africa in 1937, the result of an ‘illicit’ union between a black
man and a white woman. Her life was a tragic one and she drew heavily upon her
own experiences for her novels. She died in exile in Botswana in 1986 and The
Cardinals was published posthumously. (Synopsis: cover) Other titles of
interest: A Woman Alone, When Rain Clouds Gather, Maru, and
A Question of Power..
Laye, Camara. (Guinea) The Radiance of the King.
West, Fic Laye
Clarence, a white man, has been shipwrecked on the coast of Africa. Flush with
self-importance, he demands to see the king, but the king has just left for the
south of his realm. On his journey after him, Clarence becomes a different kind
of person, more able to answer to the king's call when it comes. The New York
Times stated, “Allegorical, Kafkaesque, and African in a unique way…”
(Synopsis: Books&Writers online) Other titles of interest: The Dark Child
and The Guardian of the Word.
Magona, Sindiwe. (South Africa) Mother to Mother
Main, Fic Magona
"My son killed your daughter." The young white American Fulbright scholar Amy
Biehl was murdered by a mob of black teenagers in 1993 on the eve of South
Africa's first democratic elections. In this groundbreaking novel, the mother of
one of the killers speaks to the mother of the victim in sorrow and anguish for
them both. Hazel Rochman of Booklist calls this book, “a gripping story of
suspense and heartbreak. This great novel, rooted in South African history,
dramatizes what life is like for one woman and her child in the worst of times.”
(Synopsis, Booklist, 09/15/1999)
Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o. (Kenya) Petals of Blood
Main, Fic Ngugi
The puzzling murder of three African directors of a foreign-owned brewery sets
the scene for this fervent, hard-hitting novel about disillusionment in
independent Kenya. On the surface this novel is a suspenseful investigation, but
as the intertwined stories of the four suspects unfold, a devastating picture
emerges of a modern third world nation whose frustrated people feel their
leaders have failed them time after time. (Synopsis: cover) Other titles of
interest: Weep Not, Child, Devil on the Cross, Wizard of the
Crow, A Grain of Wheat, and The River Between.
Okri, Ben. (Nigeria) The Famished Road
Main, Fic Okri
Azaro, a "spirit-child" from a ghetto community in Africa, uses his instinctual
memory from ancient times to see the hate and violence that keep his people
trapped in poverty. Teeming with fevered, apocalyptic visions as well as
harrowing scenes of violence and wretched poverty, this mythic novel by Nigerian
short-story writer and poet won the 1991 Man Booker Prize. (Synopsis: NoveList)
Other titles of interest: Songs of Enchantment, and Stars of the New
Curfew.
Oyono, Ferdinand. (Cameroon) The Houseboy
Main, Fic Oyono
This novel is written in the form of a diary kept by the Cameroonian
houseboy Toundi, an innocent, fascinated and awed by the white world and the
world of his masters. When the head of his mission is killed in an accident,
Toundi becomes the "boy" of the local Commandant. In an effort to improve
himself, Toundi studies his new world closely---too closely. Gradually his eyes
are opened to its realities, and in the end it destroys him. (Synopsis: cover)
Other titles of interest: Road to Europe.
Sembene, Ousmane. (Senegal) Gods Bits of Wood.
Main, Fic Sembene
In 1947-8 the workers on the Dakar-Niger railway came out on strike. In this
vivid and moving classic novel, Sembene Ousmane evinces all of the color,
passion and tragedy of those decisive years in the history of West Africa.
(Synopsis: cover) Films Sembene directed/produced: “Xala”, “Mandabi” and “Moolaade”.
“Moolaade” is available at the Boxford Town Library.
Tadjo, Veron ique. (Paris/Cote d’Ivoire) As the Crow Flies.
Main, Fic Tadjo
An illicit love affair that turns sour is the starting point in this lyrical and
moving exploration of the human heart. Veronique Tadjo weaves together a rich
tapestry of voices to tell stories of parting and return, suffering, healing and
desire. Veronique Tadjo was born in Paris and grew up in Cote d’Ivoire.
(Synopsis: cover)
Under Africa Skies: Modern African Stories
ed. by Charles R. Larson. Main, Fic Under
Editor Larson has produced a book that reflects the stunning diversity of the
Black African literary tradition. These stories, which feature prominent (Chinua
Achebe, Ben Okri, Bessie Head) as well as younger writers, include Ken Sara-Wiwa’s
apocalyptic portrait of the innocent martyr; Amos Tutuola’s hilariously surreal
story of a woman who becomes bewitched by a “complete gentleman,” who is, in
fact only a skull on borrowed limbs, and Mandla Langa’s comic account of a man
who turns hair loss into business success. (Synopsis: cover).
Vera, Yvonne. (Zimbabwe) Butterfly Burning
Main, Fic Vera
Set in a township in 1940s Rhodesia, the story centers on the passionate love of
Fumbatha and younger, ethereally beautiful Phephelaphi The couple moves to a
one-room asbestos shack, but eventually Phephelaphi grows restless, acutely
feeling the limitations of poverty and racism--of being a woman of color in
colonial times. Her desire to transcend the township is so strong that when
pregnancy threatens to bar her from nursing school, she gives herself an
abortion--a graphic, nearly unbearably tragic scene that ultimately unearths
devastating lies between her and Fumbatha. (Synopsis: Gillian Engburg,
Booklist) Other titles of interest: The Stone Virgins, Without a
Name, and Under the Tongue.
DG 6/08