English books from Africa
Recommended English books (825)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you speak English here are some English books from Africa for the next part of the "Read Around The World Challenge".
471.
Standing Heavy by Gauz EN
Country: Africa / 
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast
Description:
"One of those rare, transformative novels" KARIM MISKE "Funny and poignant" TIFFANY TSAO, author of The Majesties Initially a little intrigued, all babies eventually return the security guard's smile. The security guard adores babies. Perhaps because babies do not shoplift. Babies adore the security guard. Perhaps because he does not drag babies to the sales. The 1960s - Ferdinand arrives in Paris from Côte d'Ivoire, ready to take on the world and become a big somebody. The 1990s - It is the Golden Age of immigration, and Ossiri and Kassoum navigate a Paris on the brink of momentous change. Th... continue
472.
Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo EN
NigeriaDescription:
Originally published: Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2017.
473.
Stolen Livers by Malika Oufkir, Michele Fitoussi EN
MoroccoDescription:
Malika Oufkir has been a prisoner for most of her life in 1972 her father was executed. Malika and her family were sent to a desert gaol. In 1996 she was able to leave Morocco to begin a new life in France.
474.
Straight from the Horse's Mouth : A Novel by Meryem Alaoui EN
Description:
Named a Best Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Public Library This hilarious, colorful portrait of a sex worker navigating life in modern Morocco introduces a promising new literary voice. Thirty-four-year-old prostitute Jmiaa reflects on the bustling world around her with a brutal honesty, but also a quick wit that cuts through the drudgery. Like many of the women in her working-class Casablanca neighborhood, Jmiaa struggles to earn enough money to support herself and her family—often including the deadbeat husband who walked out on her and their young daughter. While she doesn’t despair ab... continue
475.
Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold by Umar Turaki EN
Description:
An inexplicable sickness. A small town cut off from the world. An unexpected community of survivors forges a family out of the despair, struggling against things known and unknown for survival and hope. A mysterious plague known as the Grey grips the small village of Pilam, which the world has quarantined without pity. Laying waste to Pilam's residents, the sickness saps its victims of strength, drains the color from their eyes, and kills all promise. Only the young are immune. But beyond the barricades and walls of soldiers--the manifestation of a nation's terror--there are rumors of a cure. ... continue
476.
Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz, Najīb Maḥfūẓ EN
EgyptDescription:
"Sugar Street, the climactic conclusion to Mafhouz's masterpiece trilogy, is the captivating portrait of a family struggling to change with the rise of modern Egypt. As Cairo shrugs off the final vestiges of colonialism, Ahmad Al Jawad has lost his power and surveys the world from a latticed balcony. Unable to control his family's destiny, he watches helplessly as his dynasty and the traditions he holds dear disintegrate before his eyes. But through Ahamd's three grandsons we see modern how Egypt takes shape. One grandson is a communist activist, another a Muslim fundamentalist, both working f... continue
477.
Sugar Town Queens by Malla Nunn EN
EswatiniDescription:
From Los Angeles Times Book Prize Award winner and Edgar Award nominee Malla Nunn comes a stunning portrait of a family divided and a powerful story of how friendship saves and heals. When Amandla wakes up on her fifteenth birthday, she knows it's going to be one of her mother's difficult days. Her mother has had another vision. This one involves Amandla wearing a bedsheet loosely stitched as a dress. An outfit, her mother says, is certain to bring Amandla's father back home, as if he were the prince and this was the fairytale ending their family was destined for. But in truth, Amandla's fathe... continue
478.
KenyaDescription:
A New York Times bestseller! Featured in its own episode in the Netflix original show Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices! Recipient of a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award Recipient of an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Children’s Literary Work From Academy Award–winning actress Lupita Nyong’o comes a powerful, moving picture book about colorism, self-esteem, and learning that true beauty comes from within. Sulwe has skin the color of midnight. She is darker than everyone in her family. She is darker than anyone in her school. Sulwe just wants to be beautiful and bright, like her mo... continue
479.
Summertime by J. M. Coetzee EN
Country: Africa / 
South Africa
South Africa
Description:
This brilliant new work of fiction from the Nobel Prize-winning author of "Disgrace" and "Diary of a Bad Year" allows Coetzee to imagine his own life, revealing painful moral struggles and attempts to come to grips with what it means to care for another human being.
480.
Sundiata : An Epic of Old Mali by Djibril Tamsir Niane EN
GuineaDescription:
"The son of Sogolon, the hunchback princess, and Maghan, known as 'the handsome', Sundiata grew up to fulfil the prophesies of the soothsayers that he would unite the twelve kingdoms of Mali into one of the most powerful empires ever known in Africa, which at its peak stretched right across the savanna belt from the shores of the Atlantic to the dusty walls of Timbuktu." "Retold by generations of griots - the guardians of African culture - this oral tradition has been handed down from the thirteenth century and captures all the mystery and majesty of medieval African kingship. It is an epic ta... continue