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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The stranger
Camus, Albert
Paper Book
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

My friends
Matar, Hisham
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2024 ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 BOOKER PRIZE A "masterly" (The New York Times), "riveting" (The Atlantic) novel of friendship, family, and the unthinkable realities of exile, from the Booker...

Libya | Libyan-British 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

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 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 : a novel
El Akkad, Omar
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2021 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD NATIONAL BESTSELLER   From the widely acclaimed author of American War: a new novel--beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic, and profoundly moving--that...

Egypt | Egyptian-Canadian author

Palace walk
Mahfouz, Naguib
Paper Book
Palace Walk is the first novel in Nobel Prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz's magnificent Cairo Trilogy, an epic family saga of colonial Egypt that is considered his masterwork. The novels of the Cairo Trilogy trace three generations of the family of tyrannical patriarch al-Sayyid Ahmad...

Egypt | Egyptian 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 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

Say you're one of them
Akpan, Uwem.
Paper Book
An Oprah's Book Club selection: this "electrifying" book (Washington Post) pays tribute to the wisdom and resilience of children even in the face of the most agonizing circumstances.  Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and...

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.
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

Things fall apart
Achebe, Chinua
CD
With over eight million copies in print world wide, Achebe's work is a definitive novel in African literature. Filled with powerful language and finely drawn characters, Things Fall Apart also shimmers with the sounds and sights of village life. Okonkwo is born into poverty, with a wastrel for a...

Nigeria | Nigerian author (Igbo)

A long way gone : memoirs of a boy soldier
Beah, Ishmael
Paper Book
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 : a novel
Beah, Ishmael
Paper Book
A haunting, beautiful first novel by the bestselling author of A Long Way Gone. "Every story begins and ends with a woman, a mother, a grandmother, a girl, a child. Every story is a birth..." So begins Radiance of Tomorrow, Ishmael Beah's first novel, one dogged by memories of horror but...

Sierra Leone | Sierra Leonean author

Born a crime : stories from a South African childhood
Noah, Trevor
Paper Book
The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime New York Times bestseller about one man's coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.   Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of...

South Africa | South African author (Coloured, Xhosa)

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


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