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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Algeria is beautiful like America
Burton, Olivia
Ebook
Olivia had always heard stories about Algeria from her maternal grandmother, a Black Foot (a "Pied-Noir," the French term for Christian and Jewish settlers of French Algeria who emigrated to France after the Algerian War of Independence). After her grandmother's death, Olivia found some of her...

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 excitement of a perfectly executed thriller and the force of a parable, The Stranger is the ultimate masterpiece from Nobel Prize Winner Albert Camus--one of the most engaged and intellectually alert writers of the past century. Albert Camus's spare, laconic...

Algeria | Algerian-French author

Petit pays : roman
Faye, Gae?l
Paper Book
Already an international sensation and prize-winning bestseller in France, an evocative coming-of-age story of a young boy, a lost childhood and a shattered homeland.   SHORTLISTED FOR THE ALBERTINE PRIZE * NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ESQUIRE<...
Burundi | Burundian 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

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

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.

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

The Moor's account : a novel
Lalami, Laila
Ebook
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK * The imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of America--this "stunning [book] sheds light on all of the possible the New World exploration stories that didn't make history" (Huffington Post). In these...

Morocco | Moroccan-American author

The shadow king
Mengiste, Maaza
Paper Book
With the threat of Mussolini's army looming, recently orphaned Hirut struggles to adapt to her new life as a maid in Kidane and his wife Aster's household. Kidane, an officer in Emperor Haile Selassie's army, rushes to mobilize his strongest men before the Italians invade. His initial kindness to...
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

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
Ebook
Longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize 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...

Kenya | Kenyan 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
Ebook
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Hisham Matar's Anatomy of a Disappearance. Libya, 1979. Nine-year-old Suleiman's days are circumscribed by the narrow rituals of childhood: outings to the ruins surrounding Tripoli, games with friends played under the burning sun,...

Libya | Libyan 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

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.

Say you're one of them
Akpan, Uwem.
Paper Book
Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately. The eight-year-old narrator of An Ex-Mas Feast needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when his...

Nigeria | Nigerian author (Annang)

An orchestra of minorities : a novel
Obioma, Chigozie
Paper Book
A heartbreaking story about a Nigerian poultry farmer who sacrifices everything to win the woman he loves, by Man Booker Finalist and author of The Fishermen, Chigozie Obioma. "It is more than a superb and tragic novel; it's a historical treasure."-Boston Globe

Nigeria | Nigerian author (Igbo)

Akata witch
Okorafor, Nnedi.
Audiobook
Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she has albinism. She's a terrific athlete, but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing-she is a "free agent" with...

Nigeria | Nigerian-American author

Oil on water : a novel
Habila, Helon
Audiobook
In the oil-rich and environmentally devastated Nigerian Delta, a British oil executive’s wife 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...
Things fall apart
Achebe, Chinua.
Paper Book
"A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world." --Barack Obama  "African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe." --Toni...

Nigeria | Nigerian author (Igbo)

Black Moses
Mabanckou, Alain
Paper Book
The "heart-breaking" (New York Times Book Review), rollicking, award-winning novel that has been described as "Oliver Twist in 1970s Africa" (Les Inrockuptibles) "One of the most compelling books you'll read in any language this year." --Rolling Stone Winner of the Hurston-Wright...

Republic of the Congo | Congolese author

A long way gone : memoirs of a boy soldier
Beah, Ishmael
Audiobook
Unforgettable testimony that Africa's children . . . have eyes to see and voices to tell what has happened. And what voices! . . . No outsider could have written this book, and it's hard to imagine that many insiders could do so with such acute vision, stark language, and tenderness. It is a heart...

Sierra Leone | Sierra Leonean author

Radiance of tomorrow
Beah, Ishmael
Ebook
A haunting, beautiful first novel by the bestselling author of A Long Way Gone. Named one of the Christian Science Monitor's best fiction books of the year. When Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone was published in 2007, it soared to the top of...

Sierra Leone | Sierra Leonean author

The power of one
Courtenay, Bryce
Ebook
In 1939, hatred took root in South Africa, where the seeds of apartheid were newly sown. There a boy called Peekay was born. He spoke the wrong language-English. He was nursed by a woman of the wrong color-black. His childhood was marked by humiliation and abandonment. Yet he vowed to survive-he...

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)

Nate plus one
Van Whye, Kevin
Ebook
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)

Listen, Layla
Abdel-Magied, Yassmin
Paper Book
Exploring the diaspora experience, race, politics and identity, Listen, Layla by Yassmin Abdel-Magied is an own voices novel for young readers, which bursts with passion, humour and truth. Layla has ended the school year on a high and can't wait to spend the holidays hanging out...

Sudan | Sudanese-Australian 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
A powerful story of exile, migration, and betrayal, from the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Paradise. Salim has always known that his father does not want him. Living with his parents and his adored Uncle Amir in a house full of secrets, he is a bookish child, a...

Tanzania | Tanzanian author

After the spring : a story of Tunisian youth
Aldeguer, He?le?ne
Paper Book

Tunisia | French author

Kintu
Makumbi, Jennifer Nansubuga
Paper Book
Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2017 Winner of the Windham-Campbell Prize Winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize "A soaring and sublime epic. One of those great stories that was just waiting to be told."--Marlon James, Man...

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


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