Books From Around the World (YA): Africa

It’s often interesting to get a different perspective on the world. Here are some books set in some far-flung places – and some places close to home – grouped by continent/large body of water with islands in it. The books on this list are (mostly) written by authors from the countries they are about, and in many cases have been translated into English from their mother tongues (the book we’ve chosen for Madagascar, Return to the enchanted island by Johary Ravaloson, is only the second book to have ever been translated from Malagasy into English!).

Not all of the books are in the Young Adult collection, but we’ve tried to make sure that they all at least feature kids or teens in prominent places in the story. Our eventual goal is to have at least one book for every country in the world! Help us out by sending in recommendations if you’ve found one we’ve missed!

This list contains books written by authors from Africa. Check out our lists for authors from Asia, Europe, North and Central America, Oceania, and South America for even more recommendations!

Updated June 19, 2024
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Wellington City LibrariesYouth team at Wellington City Libraries
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Harraga
Sansal, Boualem.
Ebook
____________________'This is a remarkable novel ... and a remarkably brave one. It is compelling and gripping. The horrors of man's inhumanity to man are presented unblinkingly' - Scotsman'Demotic clichés, literary illusions and lyrical descriptions, translated from the French with...

Algeria | Algerian author

Algeria is beautiful like America
Burton, Olivia
Paper Book
Algeria the Beautiful explores the rich heritage and tumultuous modern history of Algeria and its connections to Europe and colonialism.  Olivia had always heard stories about Algeria from her maternal grandmother, a Black Foot (a "Pied-Noir," the French term for...

Algeria | Author is a descendent of an Algerian 'pied-noir' - a person of European descent born in Algeria.

The stranger
Camus, Albert
Paper Book
With the intrigue of a psychological thriller, The Stranger--Camus's masterpiece--gives us the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach. With an Introduction by Peter Dunwoodie; translated by Matthew Ward. Behind the...

Algeria | Algerian-French author

General theory of oblivion
Agualusa, Jose? Eduardo
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2017 A finalist for the Man Booker International Prize 2016 The brilliant new novel from the winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. On the eve of Angolan independence, Ludo...

Angola | Angolan author

Angola Janga : kingdom of runaway slaves
Salete, Marcelo D'
Paper Book
An independent kingdom of runaway slaves founded in the late 16th century, Angola Janga was a beacon of freedom in a land plagued with oppression. In stark black ink and chiaroscuro panel compositions, D'Salete brings history to life; the painful stories of fugitive slaves on the run, the brutal...

Angola | Brazilian author writing about communities of escaped Angolan slaves in the 17th century

My friends : a novel
Matar, Hisham
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE * A "masterly" (The New York Times, Editors' Choice), "riveting" (The Atlantic) novel of friendship, family, and the unthinkable realities of exile, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return ...

Libya | Libyan-British author

Saudade
Peres da Costa, Suneeta
Paper Book
Long-awaited new work by the acclaimed author of the novel Homework, published by Bloomsbury in the UK, US and Australia A coming-of-age story set in Angola in the period leading up to the colony's independence, Saudade focuses on a Goan immigrant family caught between complicity in Portuguese rule,...

Angola | Australian-Goan author writing about Goan communities in Angola

Call and response : stories
Moeng, Gothataone
Paper Book
Richly drawn stories about the lives of ordinary families in contemporary Botswana as they navigate relationships, tradition and caretaking in a rapidly changing world. A young widow adheres to the expectations of wearing mourning clothes for nearly a year, though she's unsure...
Botswana | Tswana author
Maru : a novel
Head, Bessie
Paper Book

Botswana | Tswana author originally born in South Africa

Tales of tenderness and power
Head, Bessie
Paper Book
This is an anthology of stories, personal observations and historic legends. It reflects the author's fascination with Africa's people and their history as well as her identification with individuals and their conflicting emotions.

Botswana | Tswana author originally born in South Africa

Twenty chickens for a saddle : the story of an African childhood
Scott, Robyn.
Paper Book
When Robyn Scott was seven her parents left the tranquil hills of New Zealand, taking their three small children to live in the wild Botswana bush, where they grew up collecting snakes, canoeing with crocodiles and breaking in horses in the veld. Returning to the country where Robyn's eccentric...

Botswana | Author is a New Zealander who grew up in Botswana

So distant fom my life
Ilboudo, Monique
Paper Book
"Jeanphi, a young man from the fictional West African city Ouabany, has one obsession that will determine the fate of his life - migration. He scrapes together money to take the illegal route across the Sahara, making it as far as Morocco before being repatriated. Increasingly desperate, Jeanphi...
Burkina Faso | Burkinabé author
Petit pays : roman
Faye, Gae?l
Paper Book
Burundi | Burundian author
The last will and testament of Sen?or da Silva
Almeida, Germano.
Paper Book
Everyone in Cape Verde knew Senhor da Silva Araújo. Successful entrepeneur, owner of the island's first automobile, a most serious, upright, and self-made businessman, Senhor da Silva Araújo was the local success story. Born an orphan, he never married, he never splurged--one good suit was good...
Cabo Verde | Cabo Verdean author
The impatient : a novel
Amadou Amal, Djai?li
Paper Book
A powerful, heartrending, and insightful novel of a trio of women in Cameroon who dare to rebel against oppressive, long-held cultural traditions--including polygamy and domestic abuse--that define and limit their lives. Three women, three stories, three linked destinies . . . In...
Cameroon | Cameroonian author
Behold the dreamers : a novel
Mbue, Imbolo
Paper Book
A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream--the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy New York Times ...

Cameroon | Cameroonian-American author

A house without windows
Ellison, Marc
Paper Book
By the delicate hand of Didier Kassaï (Storm Over Bangui) comes a graphic documentary about the street children of Bangui, told in a style that mixes photos and illustrations. In the Central African Republic, children grow up in a state of insecurity, poverty, and malnutrition....
Central African Republic | Central African illustrator
Deranged as I am
Zamir, Ali
Paper Book
Set on the island of Anjouan, Comoros, Deranged As I Am follows the story of a humble docker. With his ramshackle cart and patched-up clothes, he spends his days trying to find enough work to feed himself. This whirlwind of a novel takes place over just a few days, yet Zamir's poetic and energetic...

Comoros | Comoran author

Aya : life in Yop City
Abouet, Marguerite
Paper Book
Experience the award-winning series about independent young women growing up in 1970s Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, 1978. It's a golden time, and the nation, too-an oasis of affluence and stability in West Africa-seems fueled by something wondrous. Aya is loosely based upon...

Cote d'Ivoire | Ivorian author

Akissi : tales of mischief
Abouet, Marguerite
Paper Book
"utterly unputdownable"--The New York Times A Kirkus Best Book of 2018, Akissi: Tales of Mischief brings together the first volume of the hilarious and heartfelt Akissi comics by Marguerite Abouet, the award winning author of Aya of Yop City.

Cote d'Ivoire | Ivorian author

Alpha : Abidjan to Gare du Nord
Bessora
Paper Book
Doctors Without Borders Prize PEN Promotes Award GLLI (Global Literature in Libraries Initiative) Translated YA Book Prize Shortlist CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Longlist Library Journal "Best Book of the Year" selection School Library Journal "Best Adult...

Cote d'Ivoire | Gabonese-Belgian author writing about an Ivorian man migrating to find his family in France

Allah is not obliged
Kourouma, Ahmadou.
Paper Book
When Birahima's mother dies, he leaves his native village to search for his aunt Mahan. Crossing the border into Liberia, he is seized by a rebel force and press-ganged into military service. Fighting in a chaotic civil war, he sees death, torture, amputation and madness, but somehow manages to...

Cote d'Ivoire | Ivorian author

City of saints & thieves
Anderson, Natalie C
Paper Book
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Gone Girl in this enthralling murder mystery set in Kenya.   In the shadows of Sangui City, there lives a girl who doesn't exist. After fleeing the Congo as refugees, Tina and her mother arrived in Kenya looking for the...

Democratic Republic of the Congo | American author writing a story with a Congolese protagonist based on extensive work with Congolese refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. Read more about the author's approach on the Invisible Children blog.

Refugee : a memoir
Mbolela, Emmanuel
Paper Book
Persecuted for his political activism, Emmanuel Mbolela left the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2002. His search for a new home would take six years. In that time, Mbolela endured corrupt customs officials, duplicitous smugglers, Saharan ambushes, and untenable living...
Democratic Republic of the Congo | Congolese author
The republic of false truths
Aswa?ni?, ?Ala??
Paper Book
A "glorious, humane novel" (The Observer) about the Egyptian revolution, taking us inside the battle raging between those in power and those prepared to lay down their lives in the defense of freedom--this globally-acclaimed narrative from one of the foremost writers in the Arab...
Egypt | Egyptian author
What strange paradise
El Akkad, Omar
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR * From the widely acclaimed, bestselling author of American War--a beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic, and profoundly moving novel that looks at the global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child. "Told from...

Egypt | Egyptian-Canadian author

Palace walk
Mah?fu?z?, Naji?b
Paper Book

Egypt | Egyptian author

The threshold : poems
Mirsa?l, I?ma?n
Paper Book
A selection of luminous, fiercely intelligent verse from Egypt's premier poet. Iman Mersal is Egypt's--indeed, the Arab world's--great outsider poet. Over the past three decades, she has crafted a voice that is ferocious and tender, street-smart and vulnerable. Her early work...

Egypt | Egyptian poet

Shubeik lubeik
Muh?ammad, Di?na?
Paper Book
* Winner of the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation *Eisner Award Nominee * Hugo Award Nominee A brilliantly original debut graphic novel that imagines a fantastical alternate Cairo where wishes really do come true. Shubeik Lubeik--a fairy tale rhyme that means...

Egypt | Egyptian author

Black foam : a novel
Ja?bir, H?ajji?
Paper Book
From award-winning Eritrean author Haji Jabir comes a profoundly intimate novel about one man's tireless attempt to find his place in the world. Dawoud is on the run from his murky past, aiming to discover where he belongs. He tries to assimilate into different groups along his...

Eritrea | Eritrean author

The Moor's account : a novel
Lalami, Laila
Paper Book
"From the Pulitzer Prize finalist, author of The Moor's Account--a timely and powerful new novel about the suspicious death of a Moroccan immigrant that is at once a family saga, a murder mystery, and a love story, all of it informed by the treacherous fault lines of American culture. Nora Guerraoui...

Morocco | Moroccan-American author

The crossing
Mann, Manjeet
Paper Book
Powerful, compassionate and ultimately hopeful. Observer WINNER OF THE COSTA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD 2021 - a trailblazing novel about two teenagers from opposite worlds; The Crossing is a profound story of hope, grief, and the very real tragedies of the refugee...

Eritrea | British author writing about an Eritrean teen fleeing the country after the murder of his father. The story is partially based on the author's experience working with young Eritrean refugees - read more on the Penguin UK website.

When the ground is hard
Nunn, Malla
Paper Book
Edgar Award nominee stuns in this heartrending tale set in a Swaziland boarding school where two girls of different castes bond over a shared copy of Jane Eyre. Adele Joubert loves being one of the popular girls at Keziah Christian Academy. She knows the upcoming semester...

Eswatini | Swazi-Australian author

The shadow king
Mengiste, Maaza
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2020 A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, GUARDIAN, ELLE, TIME, SPECTATOR 'DEVASTATING' Marlon James, 'BRILLIANT' Salman Rushdie, 'MAGNIFICENT' Aminatta Forna, 'WONDERFUL' Laila Lalami, 'UNFORGETTABLE' The Times<...
Ethiopia | Ethiopian-American author
All our names
Mengestu, Dinaw
Paper Book
From acclaimed author Dinaw Mengestu, a recipient of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 award, The New Yorker's 20 Under 40 award, and a 2012 MacArthur Foundation genius grant, comes an unforgettable love story about a searing affair between an American woman and an African man...

Ethiopia | Ethiopian-American author

The Arab of the future : a graphic memoir : a childhood in the Middle East (1978-1984)
Sattouf, Riad
Paper Book
The Arab of the Future, the #1 French best-seller, tells the unforgettable story of Riad Sattouf's childhood, spent in the shadows of 3 dictators--Muammar Gaddafi, Hafez al-Assad, and his father In striking, virtuoso graphic style that captures both the immediacy of...

Libya | Libyan-French author

The history of a difficult child
Sibhat, Mihret
Paper Book
"An endearing coming-of-age story. . . . Sharp and witty. . . . A wily and operatic novel. . . . Propulsive." --The Washington Post "The History of a Difficult Child is an extraordinary novel." --Maaza Mengiste, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Shadow King...

Ethiopia | Ethiopian author

Wolf light
Badoe, Yaba
Paper Book
'She weaves ancient storytelling magic into words of exceptional beauty... Everyone should read Badoe' Sophie Anderson, author of The House with Chicken Legs. A leopard dances under the moon. A wolf prowls. A red-beaked bird flies free. Three girls...

Ghana | Ghanain author

Nightbloom : a novel
Medie, Peace Adzo
Paper Book
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction Inseparable when they were girls but now estranged, cousins Akorfa and Selasi have to repair the silences between them or lose each other forever in this moving novel set in Ghana and America from the author of Reese's Book...

Ghana | Ghanaian author

Dust
Owuor, Yvonne Adhiambo.
Paper Book
From a breathtaking new voice, a novel about a splintered family in Kenya--a story of power and deceit, unrequited love, survival and sacrifice. Odidi Oganda, running for his life, is gunned down in the streets of Nairobi. His grief-stricken sister, Ajany, just returned from Brazil, and...

Kenya | Kenyan author

The perfect nine : the epic of Gi?ku?yu? and Mu?mbi
Ngu?gi? wa Thiong?o
Paper Book
A dazzling, genre-defying novel in verse from the author Delia Owens says "tackles the absurdities, injustices, and corruption of a continent" Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's novels and memoirs have received glowing praise from the likes of President Barack Obama, the New Yorker, the New...

Kenya | Kenyan author

How to write about Africa
Wainaina, Binyavanga
Paper Book
A trailblazing collection of writing from Binyavanga Wainaina's extraordinary life 'In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy...

Kenya | Kenyan author

And still peace did not come : a memoir of reconciliation
Kamara-Umunna, Agnes
Paper Book
When bullets hit Agnes Kamara-Umunna's home in Monrovia, Liberia, she and her father hastily piled whatever they could carry into their car and drove toward the border, along with thousands of others. An army of children was approaching, under the leadership of Charles Taylor. It seemed like the end...

Liberia | Liberian author

She would be king : a novel
Moore, Waye?tu
Paper Book
A novel of exhilarating range, magical realism, and history--a dazzling retelling of Liberia's formation Wayétu Moore's powerful debut novel,She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia's early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon...

Liberia | Liberian author

In the country of men
Matar, Hisham
Paper Book
Set in Libya during the late 1970's Qaddafi regime, 'In the Country of Men' encapsulates a world that is rarely seen in fiction and brings it brilliantly, vividly to life. It will appeal to fans of 'The Kite Runner'.

Libya | Libyan author

Return to the enchanted island
Ravaloson, Johary
Paper Book
In this exhilarating prize-winning novel--only the second to be published in English from Madagascar--a young man comes of age amidst the enchanted origin myths of his island country. Named after the first man at the creation of the world in Malagasy mythology, Ietsy Razak was...

Madagascar | Malagasy author

The boy who harnessed the wind : creating currents of electricity and hope
Kamkwamba, William
Paper Book
Soon to be a Netflix film William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger. But William had read about windmills, and he dreamed of building one that would bring to his small village a set of...

Malawi | Malawian author

Red mother with child
Lax
Paper Book
In Mali in Africa, a red Mother with Child, a 14th century African sculpture, is saved from the destructive madness of Islamists by Alou, a young honey hunter. In the company of other migrants, sisters and brothers of misfortune, Alou goes all out to reach Europe. His goal and his obsession: entrust...

Mali | French author

Guanta?namo diary
Slahi, Mohamedou Ould
Paper Book
An unprecedented international publishing event: the first and only diary written by a still-imprisoned Guantv°namo detainee. Since 2002, Mohamedou Slahi has been imprisoned at the detainee camp at Guantv°namo Bay, Cuba. In all these years, the United States has never...

Mauritania | Mauritanian author writing about his experiences in Guantanamo, Cuba.

The prospector
Le Cle?zio, J.-M. G.
Paper Book
From master storyteller J. M. G. Le Clézio: winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. "A novel of intense beauty."--Review of Contemporary Fiction The Prospector is the crowning achievement from one of France's preeminent novelists and a work rich with...

Mauritius | Mauritian author

Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325-1354
Ibn Batuta
Paper Book

Morocco | Moroccan author

This blinding absence of light
Ben Jelloun, Tahar
Paper Book
An immediate and critically acclaimed bestseller in France and winner of the 2004 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, This Blinding Absence of Light is the latest work by Tahar Ben Jelloun, the first North African winner of the Prix Goncourt and winner of the 1994 Prix Mahgreb. Ben...

Morocco | Moroccan author

Horses of God
Binebine, Mahi
Paper Book
On May 16, 2003, fourteen suicide bombers launched a series of attacks throughout Casablanca. It was the deadliest attack in Morocco's history. The bombers came from the shantytowns of Sidi Moumen, a poor suburb on the edge of a dump whose impoverished residents rarely if ever set foot in the...

Morocco | Moroccan author

Woman of the ashes
Couto, Mia
Paper Book
The first in a trilogy about the last emperor of southern Mozambique by one of Africa's most important writers Southern Mozambique, 1894. Sergeant Germano de Melo is posted to the village of Nkokolani to oversee the Portuguese conquest of territory claimed by Ngungunyane, the...

Mozambique | Mozambican author

Neighbours : the story of a murder
Momple?, Lilia
Paper Book
On the eve of the Muslim festival of Eid, Narguiss, who ‘never wanted anything to do with politics’, is more preoccupied with family problems than with the radio news of kidnappings and murders. Nearby, Leia, Januário and their young daughter are caught up in the pleasure and security of...

Mozambique | Mozambican author

Say you're one of them
Akpan, Uwem.
Paper Book
Nothing interests Maman today, not even Jean, her favorite child ... She acts dumb, bewitched, like a goat that the neighborhood children have fed sorghum beer.' This extraordinary collection ranges from the depiction of a street family's poverty in Kenya, illegal trading of children in...

Nigeria | Nigerian author (Annang)

My life as a chameleon
Anyakwo, Diana
Paper Book
'A vivid and tender portrait' Suzi Feay, Financial Times 'Beautiful and immersive. I was completely absorbed' Andreina Cordani 'Exceptional . . . A story of empowerment, bravery and courage' J P Rose 'Tender, melancholic, and...

Nigeria | Nigerian-Irish author

An orchestra of minorities : a novel
Obioma, Chigozie
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019 From the author of the Booker-shortlisted novel, The Fishermen 'Obioma is truly the heir to Chinua Achebe' New York Times A young farmer...

Nigeria | Nigerian author (Igbo)

Akata witch
Okorafor, Nnedi.
Paper Book
Affectionately dubbed "the Nigerian Harry Potter," Akata Witch weaves together a heart-pounding tale of magic, mystery, and finding one's place in the world. Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she's albino. She's a...

Nigeria | Nigerian-American author

Oil on water : a novel
Habila, Helon
Paper Book
In the oil-rich and environmentally devastated Nigerian Delta, the wife of a British oil executive has been kidnapped. Two journalists--a young upstart, Rufus, and a once-great, now disillusioned veteran, Zaq--are sent to find her. In a story rich with atmosphere and taut with suspense, Oil on Water...
Things fall apart
Achebe, Chinua.
Paper Book
The most widely read book in modern African literature tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around a fearless Igbo warrior in Nigeria in the late 1800s, before and after the European colonization of the continent. "African literature is...

Nigeria | Nigerian author (Igbo)

Black Moses
Mabanckou, Alain
Paper Book
The new novel from the outstanding figure of French and African literature, Man Booker International shortlisted novelist Alain Mabanckou.

Republic of the Congo | Congolese author

Equator
Tavares, Miguel Sousa.
Paper Book
It is Lisbon in the year 1905 and our hero, Luis Bernardo Valenca, a 37 year-old bachelor and owner of a small shipping business, is revelling in the luxury of Lisbon's high society. Intellectually curious, he writes about politics in his spare time, believing that Portugal's vast empire is having a...

São Tomé and Príncipe | Portuguese author

A long way gone : memoirs of a boy soldier
Beah, Ishmael
Paper Book
In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of...

Sierra Leone | Sierra Leonean author

Radiance of tomorrow
Beah, Ishmael
Paper Book
A haunting, beautiful first novel by the bestselling author of A Long Way Gone When Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone was published in 2007, it soared to the top of bestseller lists, becoming an instant classic: a harrowing account of Sierra Leone's...

Sierra Leone | Sierra Leonean author

Crossbones
Farah, Nuruddin
Paper Book
A gripping new novel from today's "most important African novelist". (The New York Times Review of Books), the internationally acclaimed author of North of Dawn   A dozen years after his last visit, Jeebleh returns to his beloved Mogadiscio to see old friends. He...

Somalia | Somali author

Black mamba boy
Mohamed, Nadifa
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE BETTY TRASK AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE GRANTA BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELISTS 2013 For fans of Half of a Yellow Sun, a stunning novel set in 1930s Somalia spanning a decade of war and upheaval, all seen through the eyes of a small boy alone in the...

Somalia | Somali-British author

The power of one
Courtenay, Bryce
Paper Book
Born in a South Africa divided by racism and hatred, little six-year-old Peekay learns that small can beat big. Armed with this knowledge, he resolves to take on the injustices of his country, and sets his heart on becoming the welterweight champion of the world. Peekay starts to take boxing...

South Africa | South African author (Afrikaner)

African tales : a Barefoot collection
Mhlophe, Gcina.
Paper Book

South Africa | South African author (Xhosa, Zulu)

Journey to Jo'burg : a South African story
Naidoo, Beverley.
Paper Book
This is the story of love, commitment and the flowering of the human spirit against the background of South Africa's apartheid. Frightened that their baby sister Dineo will die, thirteen-year-old Naledi and her younger brother Tiro run away from their grandmother to Johannesburg to find...

South Africa | South African author (Afrikaner)

Born a crime : stories from a South African childhood
Noah, Trevor
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * More than one million copies sold! A "brilliant" (Lupita Nyong'o, Time), "poignant" (Entertainment Weekly), "soul-nourishing" (USA Today) memoir about coming of age during the twilight of apartheid  

South Africa | South African author (Coloured, Xhosa)

The reactive : a novel
Ntshanga, Masande
Paper Book
*Winner of The Betty Trask Award (2018) *Sunday Times Barry Ronge Fiction Prize Finalist *Etisalat Prize for Literature Longlist *One of the Best Books of the Year 2016 --City Press, The Sunday Times, The Star, This is Africa, Africa's a Country, Sunday World Heralded in...

South Africa | South African author (Xhosa)

Spud
Van de Ruit, John.
Paper Book
The record-breaking, bestselling Spud arrives in paperback JOHN ?SPUD? MILTON takes his first hilarious steps toward manhood in this delicious, laugh-out-loud boarding school romp, full of midnight swims, raging hormones, and catastrophic holidays that will leave the...

South Africa | South African author (Afrikaner)

Nate plus one
Van Whye, Kevin
Paper Book
Boy plus boy. Two weeks in Johannesburg. A summer of music, adventure, self-discovery . . . and definitely not love. What could go wrong?   Nate needs a date to his cousin's wedding. Jai is Nate's best friend and secret crush. Could Jai be Nate's plus-one--and only?<...

South Africa | South African author (Afrikaner)

Beneath the darkening sky
Tulba, Majok.
Paper Book
When the rebels come to Obinna's village, they do more than wreak terror for one night. Lining the children up in the middle of the village, they measure them against the height of an AK-47. Those who are shorter than the gun are left behind. Those who are taller are taken. Obinna and his older...

South Sudan | South Sudanese author

Songs of a war boy
Adut, Deng Thiak
Paper Book
Deng Adut's family were farmers in South Sudan when a brutal civil war altered his life forever. At six years old, his mother was told she had to give him up to fight. At the age most Australian children are starting school , Deng was conscripted into the Sudan People's Liberation Army. He began...

South Sudan | South Sudanese author

Listen, Layla
Abdel-Magied, Yassmin
Paper Book

Sudan | Sudanese-Australian author

Lyrics alley
Aboulela, Leila
Paper Book
Set in 1950s Sudan, LYRICS ALLEY is the story of the powerful and sprawling Abuzied dynasty. With Mahmood Bey at its helm, the family can do no wrong. But when Mahmood's son, Nur - the brilliant, charming heir to his business empire - suffers a near-fatal accident, his hopes of university and a...

Sudan | Sudanese author

Home is not a country
Elhillo, Safia
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD   "Nothing short of magic." --Elizabeth Acevedo, New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X   From the  acclaimed poet featured on Forbes Africa's "30 Under 30" list, this...

Sudan | Sudanese-American author

Gravel heart
Gurnah, Abdulrazak
Paper Book
Moving from revolutionary Zanzibar in the 1960s to restless London in the 1990s, Gravel Heart is a powerful story of exile, migration and betrayal, from the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of ParadiseSalim has always believed that his father does not want him. Living with his parents...

Tanzania | Tanzanian author

After the spring : a story of Tunisian youth
Aldeguer, He?le?ne
Paper Book
In 2011 one of the biggest political events in the world, the Arab Spring, swept across North Africa. But what came next? As the world moves on, four young Tunisians must cope with the reality of an uncertain future in this original graphic novel. Winner of the Raymond Leblanc...

Tunisia | French author

Kintu
Makumbi, Jennifer Nansubuga
Paper Book
  'Ugandan literature can boast of an international superstar in Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi' Economist  An award-winning debut that vividly reimagines Uganda's troubled history through the cursed bloodline of the Kintu clan In this epic tale of fate, fortune...

Uganda | Ugandan author

The Old Drift : a novel
Serpell, Namwali
Paper Book
"A dazzling debut, establishing Namwali Serpell as a writer on the world stage."--Salman Rushdie, The New York Times Book Review   NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Dwight Garner, The New York Times * The New York Times Book Review *...

Zambia | Zambian-American author

Hope is our only wing
Tavengerwei, Rutendo
Paper Book
A teen novel set in Zimbabwe about hope - and its power to heal a family, a friendship or even a nation.

Zimbabwe | Zimbabwean author


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