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
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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)
The First Wife by Paulina ChizianeSleepwalking Land by Mia CoutoThe Tuner of Silences by Mia CoutoGungunhana by Ungulani Ba Ka KhosaChoriro by Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa
Literature of Mozambique
31 books — 6 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


Africa! Africa! Africa! Africa my motherland! Africa, your people cries for you! Africans must educate their citizens. Africans must reach out to it's people and empower them to build the nation. Africans you are the only people who can liberated your citizens from poverty through education. Africans must pay the price to rebuild the continent. ...more
Lailah Gifty Akita

Chinua Achebe
What I can say is that it was clear to many of us that an indigenous African literary renaissance was overdue. A major objective was to challenge stereotypes, myths, and the image of ourselves and our continent, and to recast them through stories- prose, poetry, essays, and books for our children. That was my overall goal.
Chinua Achebe, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra

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