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

Twenty chickens for a saddle :
Scott, Robyn.
Paper Book
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

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

Alpha
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

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.

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

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

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
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

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

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

The boy who harnessed the wind :
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.

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)

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)

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

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)

Songs of a war boy /
Adut, Deng Thiak,
Paper Book
'A reminder that every childhood is different, and some are jaw-droppingly, mind-bendingly, heart-wrenchingly different.' - Morris Gleitzman, Australian Children's Laureate Deng Adut was six years old when war came to his village in South Sudan. Taken from his mother, he...

South Sudan | South Sudanese author

Listen, Layla
Abdel-Magied, Yassmin
Paper Book
Exploring the diaspora experience, race, politics, and identity, Listen, Layla is an own voices novel for young readers, bursting with passion, humor, and truth. What's a queen to do when her summer plans go horribly wrong? A powerful, funny, and timely novel for...

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
From the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, a powerful story of exile, migration, and betrayal. 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

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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