For this reading list we’re staying in this century and in a continent as ethnically and culturally diverse as Africa, here are some of Africa’s best modern writers. Enjoy 10 Contemporary African Novels Everyone Should Read.
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10 Contemporary African Novels Everyone Should Read
Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
Informed by traditional African storytelling, discover Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s masterpiece.
To honour the Ruler’s birthday, the Free Republic of Aburiria set out to build a tower; a modern wonder of the world that will reach the gates of Heaven. But behind this pillar of unity a battle for control of the Aburirian people rages. Among the contenders: the eponymous Wizard, an avatar of folklore and wisdom; the corrupt Christian Ministry; and the nefarious Global Bank.
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
In Sierra Leone, a devastating civil war has left an entire populace with secrets to keep. In the capital hospital, a gifted young surgeon is plagued by demons that are beginning to threaten his livelihood. Elsewhere in the hospital lies a dying man who was young during the country’s turbulent postcolonial years and has stories to tell that are far from heroic. As past and present intersect in the buzzing city, these men are drawn unwittingly closer by a British psychologist with good intentions, and into the path of one woman at the center of their stories.
A work of breathtaking writing and rare wisdom, The Memory of Love seamlessly weaves together two generations of African life to create a story of loss, absolution, and the indelible effects of the past–and, in the end, the very nature of love.
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel We Need New Names depicts social conflict, government abuse, linguistic imposition, displacement and migration through the sceptical voice of ten-year-old Darling, first in a Zimbabwean slum and then in the USA. Bulawayo’s keen powers of observation and social commentary, and her refreshing sense of humor, deal with themes of loss, identity, struggle, sacrifice, and violence.
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
In a small town in western Nigeria, four young brothers – the youngest is nine, the oldest fifteen – use their strict father’s absence from home to go fishing at a forbidden local river. They encounter a dangerous local madman who predicts that the oldest brother will be killed by another. This prophecy breaks their strong bond and unleashes a tragic chain of events of almost mythic proportions.
Passionate and bold, The Fishermen is a breathtakingly beautiful novel firmly rooted in the best of African storytelling. With this powerful debut, Chigozie Obioma emerges as one of the most original new voices of modern African literature.
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
This tender, visceral novel follows Vivek Oji who is both dead and alive, male and female. The Death of Vivek Oji is a novel of family and friendship that challenges expectations – a dramatic story of loss and transcendence that will move every reader.
Kintu by Jennifer Makumbi
In this epic tale of fate, fortune and legacy, Jennifer Makumbi vibrantly brings to life this corner of Africa and this colourful family as she reimagines the history of Uganda through the cursed bloodline of the Kintu clan.
The year is 1750. Kintu Kidda sets out for the capital to pledge allegiance to the new leader of the Buganda kingdom. Along the way he unleashes a curse that will plague his family for generations. Blending oral tradition, myth, folktale and history.
The Madonna of Excelsior by Zakes Mda
In 1971, nineteen citizens of Excelsior in South Africa’s white-ruled Free State were charged with breaking apartheid’s Immorality Act, which forbade sex between blacks and whites. Taking this case as raw material for his alchemic imagination, Zakes Mda tells the story of one irrepressible fallen madonna, Niki, and her family, at the heart of the scandal.
The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
Paris, 2018. Diégane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer, discovers a legendary book titled The Maze of Inhumanity. It has an immediate hold over him. No one knows what happened to the author, T.C. Elimane, who was accused of plagiarism, his reputation destroyed by the critics.
A gripping literary quest novel and a masterpiece of perpetual reinvention, The Most Secret Memory of Men confronts the impact of colonialism and neo-colonialism, the holocaust in Europe, dictatorships in South America and the Caribbean, genocide in Africa, and collaboration and resistance everywhere. Above all, it is a love song to literature and its timeless power.
Small Country by Gaël Faye
Burundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his comfortable expatriate neighborhood of Bujumbura with his French father, Rwandan mother and little sister Ana, is something close to paradise.
But dark clouds are gathering over this small country, and soon their peaceful existence will shatter when Burundi, and neighboring Rwanda, are brutally hit by civil war and genocide.
A novel of extraordinary power and beauty, Small Country describes an end of innocence as seen through the eyes of a child caught in the maelstrom of history. Shot through with shadows and light, tragedy and humor, it is a stirring tribute not only to a dark chapter in Africa’s past, but also to the bright days that preceded it.
The Tuner of Silences by Mia Couto
Mwanito has been living in a former big-game park for eight years. The only people he knows are his father, his brother, an uncle, and a servant. He’s been told that the rest of the world is dead, that all roads are sad, that they wait for an apology from God. In the place his father calls Jezoosalem, Mwanito has been told that crying and praying are the same thing. Both, it seems, are forbidden.
The Tuner of Silences is the story of Mwanito’s struggle to reconstruct a family history that his father is unable to discuss, the truth endures as a magical, humanizing confrontation between one child and the legacy of war.
If you enjoyed 10 Contemporary African Novels Everyone Should Read, check out 10 Great Nigerian Books to Read
