Africa boasts an amazing collection of writers. From Dangarembga’s familial strife to Gordimer’s race relations, Africa offers a diverse and noteworthy literary canon. Some of Africa’s great works were written in exile, while others have been penned in African metropolises such as Lagos, Johannesburg, and Nairobi.
When Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island, one of the first people he sought out was his old friend, Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer. African fiction helped bust apart colonialism and now addresses varied topics such as cultural isolation, disease epidemics, and poverty. It’s not all doom and gloom though. The writing is beautiful and affirms the wonders of the family and the community.
Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart
J.M. Coetzee Disgrace
Tsitsi Dangarembga Nervous Conditions
Nadine Gordimer July’s People
Nuruddin Farrah Secrets
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Half of a Yellow Sun
Charles Larson (ed.) Under African Skies: Modern African Stories
Ben Okri The Famished Road
Ngugi wa Thiong’o Wizard of the Crow
Bessie Head A Question of Power
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Some fantastic female African writers are Buchi Emecheta and Ama Ata Aidoo.
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