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.
Paper Book
____________________'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...

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
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

A general theory of oblivion
Agualusa, José Eduardo
Paper Book
Winner of the 2017 Dublin International Literary Award Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2016 "Who is this solitary young woman on the top floor of a luxury building in Luanda, Angola's capital, and why has she walled off her apartment? Her...

Angola | Angolan author

My friends
Matar, Hisham
Paper Book
Khaled and Mustafa meet at university in Edinburgh- two Libyan eighteen-year-olds expecting to return home after their studies. In a moment of recklessness and courage, they travel to London to join a demonstration in front of the Libyan embassy. When government officials open fire on protestors in...

Libya | Libyan-British author

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
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
Small country
Faye, Gaël
Paper Book
'A luminous debut novel. This is a book that demanded to be written... With a light touch, Faye dramatises the terrible nostalgia of having lost not only a childhood but also a whole world to war' Guardian Burundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his...
Burundi | Burundian author
The impatient : a novel
Amadou Amal, Djai?li
Ebook
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
Mbue, Imbolo
Paper Book
Named one of BuzzFeed's "Incredible New Books You Need to Read This Summer"A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream, this is the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the...

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

Alpha : Abidjan to Gare du Nord
Bessora
Paper Book
A timely and important graphic novel account of one man's desperate journey from North Africa to Europe. Alpha brings together prize-winning artist Barroux and novelist Bessora, and comes to the UK market with a foreword by Michael Morpurgo and endorsed by Amnesty International. Alpha...

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.
Paper Book
The Hunger Games meets The Thief Lord in this enthralling murder mystery set in Kenya. In the shadows of Sangui City, a street-thief called Tina patiently plots her revenge. Her mother has been shot dead at the home of one of Kenya's richest businessmen, and Tina is sure she...

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
Aswānī, ʻAlāʼ
Paper Book
'An amazing portrait of fanaticism and cynicism among Egyptian powermongers.' - ANDRE ACIMAN
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
Mahfuz, Najib
Paper Book
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
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
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
This CBCA short-listed book also won the LA Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature and is a stunning and heartrending mystery set in a Swaziland boarding school about two girls of different castes who bond over a shared copy of Jane Eyre.

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
VOLUME 1 IN THE UNFORGETTABLE STORY OF AN EXTRAORDINARY CHILDHOOD The Arab of the Future tells the unforgettable story of Riad Sattouf's childhood, spent in the shadows of three dictators - Muammar Gaddafi, Hafez al-Assad, and his father. A...

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 Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi
Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE A dazzling, genre-defying novel in verse, full of trial and sacrifice, The Perfect Nine is a glorious epic about the founding of Kenya's Gikuyu people and the ideals of beauty, courage and unity. 'One of...

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

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
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 around his...

Libya | Libyan author

The boy who harnessed the wind : creating currents of electricity and hope
Kamkwamba, William
Paper Book
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

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 Clézio, J.-M. G.
Paper Book
A haunting, lyrical and mythic novel of a man haunted by visions of his ideal childhood, from the winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for literature, J.M.G. Le Clezio.

Mauritius | Mauritian 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

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

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. Perfect for fans of Children of Blood and Bone! Sunny Nwazue lives in Nigeria, but she was born in New York...

Nigeria | Nigerian-American author

Oil on water
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
Okonowo is the greatest warrior alive. His fame has spread like a bushfire in West Africa and he is one of the most powerful men of his clan. But he also has a fiery temper. Determined not to be like his father, he refuses to show weakness to anyone - even if the only way he can master his...

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

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 novel about zealotry, pirates and Somalia in crisis.

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
Mhlophe, Gcina.
Paper Book
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)

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)

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
Two boys. Two bands. Two worlds colliding. Nate Hargraves - stage-shy singer-songwriter - is totally stoked for his cousin's wedding in South Africa, an all-expenses paid trip of a lifetime. Until he finds out his sleazeball ex-boyfriend is also on the guest list. ...

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

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
Serpell, Namwali
Paper Book
'Extraordinary, ambitious, evocative... The Old Drift is an impressive book, ranging skillfully between historical and science fiction, shifting gears between political argument, psychological realism and rich fabulism...a dazzling debut, establishing Namwali Serpell as a writer on the...

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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