Great African Reads discussion

Our Mar/April read of 2022 will be from Western Africa (as defined by the UN geoscheme)

While Nigeria is probably the literary superpower in this area, there are plenty of contries to choose from:
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Senegal, Sierra Leone & Togo.

Try to keep nominations to one pr. person - and you're welcome to second someone else's nomination.

Our last choices from this region are not eligible in this round:
His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah
Stay with Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
(but threads are open if you want to read and discuss those titles).

Authors! Please note: We have decided to not allow self-nomination - but if you are an author and would like to promote your book, please feel free to do so in this folder. Thank you for your understanding!

I will get it started with nomination of Sundowners by Lesley Lokko of Ghana.

Dawn to Dusk: Folktales from Benin

I'll go for Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals

I would like to nominate Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi.

God's Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane from Senegal.

I have read God's Bits of Wood, it's very good and I will 2nd it.

I’d like to nominate “She should be king” by Wayétu Moore, an example of African magical realism

George P. wrote: "I have read God's Bits of Wood, it's very good and I will 2nd it."

And here's the link to that book: She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore

I would like to nominate Shadow of Things to Come by Kossi Efoui.

Carolien wrote: "I'll go for Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals"

I'd like to second this nomination.

Sean wrote: "Hi folk, back after a bit of a hiatus (almost a year?). For the Western African read I would nominate Nigerian author Nnamdi Oguike's Do Not Say It's Not Your Country."

I will second this one!

I nominate The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo
by Capeverdean author Germano Almeida .

Nigeria is a superpower for English speakers. But other countries have such rich literature, sometimes not translated into English. Germano Almeida, from Cape verde, has so many great books, but the only one I found in English is the one I nominated above.
By the way, I posted this elsewhere but did not see a reply: Let's make a subgroup for books in Portuguese, like you have in French? Lusophone Africa has a rich literature!

Ana Lúcia wrote: "By the way, I posted this elsewhere but did not see a reply: Let's make a subgroup for books in Portuguese, like you have in French? Lusophone Africa has a rich literature!"

Hello Ana Lúcia, you can find our replies in the thread where you posted the idea.

Thank you! I had forgotten where and did not see a notification. I am so glad you are interested!

Ana Lúcia wrote: "Thank you! I had forgotten where and did not see a notification. I am so glad you are interested!"

I had signed up for digest only. Still figuring Goodreads out.

Ana Lúcia wrote: "Nigeria is a superpower for English speakers. But other countries have such rich literature, sometimes not translated into English. Germano Almeida, from Cape verde, has so many great books, but th..."
Oooh Cape Verde! Thank you for pointing out this author! It's not always easy to find those not writing in English. I've read it and really enjoyed it!

Amina wrote: "I’d like to nominate “She should be king” by Wayétu Moore, an example of African magical realism"

I'll second She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore, as Liberia is one the the few countries I'm missing in my African quest...

Oh, and it's time to vote! Poll coming up!

Please vote here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...