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
Nervous Conditions
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
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
603 books — 432 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
1,049 books — 1,706 voters
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


A dance with the clouds. After this dance what next. When charcoal becomes ambers and fire remind us about sweet melodies. When human emotions stop to sing and we marry our sins. A dance in between fences and living inside furnaces. A million stars had dropped, a million moons spurred hope under our broken shadows. I remain here, I remain dancing with the clouds.
Tapiwanaishe Pamacheche, Depth of colour

While at the hospital, he felt so awful about his fallen life. It was so surprising how someone could change from grace to disgrace. He realized that just as a man was capable of growing physically and spiritually strong, he was capable of growing weak.
David G Maillu, Unfit for human consumption

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