African Literature

African literature refers to literature of and from Africa. As George Joseph notes on the first page of his chapter on African literature in Understanding Contemporary Africa, while the European perception of literature generally refers to written letters, the African concept includes oral literature.
As George Joseph continues, while European views of literature often stressed a separation of art and content, African awareness is inclusive:

"Literature" can also imply an artistic use of words for the sake of art alone. ... traditionally, Africans do not radically separate art from teaching. Rat
...more

Cursed Daughters
Dream Count
Jacaranda
My Friends
This Motherless Land
The Promise
Watch Us Dance (In the Country of Others, #2)
Little Rot
Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent
Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad
And So I Roar
Blessings
La plus secrète mémoire des hommes
Small Worlds
Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)
Half of a Yellow Sun
Americanah
Purple Hibiscus
Homegoing
The Thing Around Your Neck
Disgrace
So Long a Letter
We Should All Be Feminists
No Longer at Ease (The African Trilogy, #3)
A spell of good things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀Nightbloom by Peace Adzo MedieHangman by Maya BinyamMaame by Jessica GeorgeRiver Spirit by Leila Aboulela
100 Notable African Books of 2023
100 books — 5 voters
On the Come Up by Angie ThomasWith the Fire on High by Elizabeth AcevedoBlack Enough by Ibi ZoboiI Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina ForestWatch Us Rise by Renée  Watson
Black Heroines 2019
68 books — 27 voters

Segu by Maryse CondéDésert by J.M.G. Le ClézioMathématiques congolaises by In Koli Jean BofaneSous L'orage (Kany)Roman, Suivi De La Mort De Chaka, Pièce En... by BADIAN SEYDOU (MAL)L'Étranger by Albert Camus
Afrique Francophone
25 books — 3 voters

Never My Father's Daughter by Bamini SelladuraiThe Joy Luck Club by Amy TanThe Kite Runner by Khaled HosseiniNever My Father's Daughter by Bamini SelladuraiThe Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Immigrant Experience Literature
1,047 books — 1,704 voters
Things Fall Apart by Chinua AchebeHalf of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichiePurple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieAmericanah by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieSo Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
African Fiction
601 books — 429 voters


Mike Ormsby
I'm not interested in whether I'm better than you; only whether I'm better than yesterday. ...more
Mike Ormsby, Child Witch Kinshasa

Enock Maregesi
To be able to influence Tanzanian literature and African literature, and sell our books in Tanzania as well as in our continent, we need to be committed to what we do. And what we do is writing. Write as much as you can. Read as much as you can. Use the library and the internet carefully for research and talk to people, about things that matter. To make a living from writing, and make people read again in Tanzania and Africa; we must write very well, very good stories.
Enock Maregesi

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