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 April 25, 2024
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Harraga
Sansal, Boualem
Harraga. The term means "to burn," and it refers to those Algerians in exile, who burn their identity papers to seek asylum in Europe. But for Boualem Sansal, whose novels are banned in his own country, there is a kind of internal exile even for those who stay; and for no one is it worse than...

Algeria | Algerian author

The stranger
Camus, Albert
Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd." First published in 1946; now in a new translation by Matthew Ward.

Algeria | Algerian-French author

Twenty chickens for a saddle : the story of an African childhood
Scott, Robyn.
A glorious new voice on Africa, Robyn Scott's adventures growing up in Botswana in a loving but eccentric family will be one of the season's most talked-about memoirsRobyn Scott's story of moving at the age of seven to Botswana with her adventure-seeking parents is described by Alexander...

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

Small country : a novel
Faye, Ga©±l
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.
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
"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 Paris
Bessora
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

City of saints & thieves
Anderson, Natalie C.
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.

What strange paradise
El Akkad, Omar
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
Ma℗ fu℗ , Najib
Volume I of the masterful Cairo Trilogy. A national best-seller in both hardcover and paperback, it introduces the engrossing saga of a Muslim family in Cairo during Egypt's occupation by British forces in the early 1900s.

Egypt | Egyptian author

SHUBEIK LUBEIK
MOHAMED, DEENA
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 "your wish is my command" in Arabic--is the story of three people who are navigating a world where wishes are literally for...

Egypt | Egyptian author

The shadow king : a novel
Mengiste, Maaza
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
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 history of a difficult child
Sibhat, Mihret
"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 A.
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

The perfect nine : the epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi
Ngugi wa Thiong'o
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

She would be king : a novel
Moore, Way©♭tu
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
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, exotic gifts from his father’s constant business trips abroad. But his nights have come to revolve...

Libya | Libyan author

MY FRIENDS
MATAR, HISHAM
A "masterly" (The New York Times, Editors' Choice), "riveting" (The Atlantic) novel of friendship, family, and the unthinkable realities of exile, from the Booker Prize-nominated and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return "A profound...

Libya | Libyan-British author

The boy who harnessed the wind : creating currents of electricity and hope
Kamkwamba, William
Now a Netflix Film, Starring and Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor of 12 Years a Slave 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...

Malawi | Malawian author

Guant©Łnamo diary
Slahi, Mohamedou Ould.
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 other Americans
Lalami, Laila
"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

Woman of the ashes
Couto, Mia
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

Say you're one of them
Akpan, Uwem.
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
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.
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
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.
"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
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

A long way gone : memoirs of a boy soldier
Beah, Ishmael
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
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
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
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

African tales
Mhlophe, Gcina.
Explore this colorful continent and uncover the rich ways of life of the many peoples who live there. The eight stories in this collection, each from a different African country, feature educational facts and information about the cultures from which they are chosen. The stories are retold by award...

South Africa | South African author (Xhosa, Zulu)

Born a crime : stories from a South African childhood
Noah, Trevor
#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
*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)

Lyrics Alley
Aboulela, Leila
Lyrics Alley is the evocative story of an affluent Sudanese family shaken by the shifting powers in their country and the near-tragedy that threatens the legacy they've built for decades. In 1950's Sudan, the powerful Abuzeid dynasty has amassed a fortune through their...

Sudan | Sudanese author

Home is not a country
Elhillo, Safia
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

Kintu
Makumbi, Jennifer Nansubuga
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
"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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