African literature

[FiveBells]

I am very interested to hear recommendations for African literature (in English). It's an area I have only skimmed on in the past, but would like to investigate more deeply this year. Books I have read include 'Disgrace' by Coetze, the Cairo Trilogy by Mahfouz and a few of the Ladies Detective Agency books - I am sure there are others but I am typing off the top of my head ;)

Any hot tips?

See it's been recommended already but I came on to say Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Great book with some good insights into modern Africa, but the themes of the difficulties of growing up and the value of education, especially for young women, are universal, I think.

Also second Nadine Gordimer, I enjoyed 'A Guest of Honour', quite political, but compelling and moving too.

Something a little different, but John Le Carre's The Constant Gardener was a page turner with some heavy themes, the ethics of large pharmaceutical companies' involvement with foreign aid and access to medicine for people in poverty, with a personal story in the foreground.

Thanks timbuktutu and Cinderella

What is the Wat by Dave Eggers- not an African writer, but an amazing book set in Sudan.
A small town in Africa is also a lovely little book by Daisy Waugh but I think may be out of print.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ismael Beah is also an amazing story of a child soldier in Sierre Leone.

This was lent to me just before Xmas and I found it fascinating. The friend who passed it to me had a BIL who had lived out there and said it really evoked the time and place.

www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Resort-Zimbabwe-Memoir/dp/190759521X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326806671&sr=1-3

There are so many places to go with this
Zimbabwe for me has a really rich seam of writer to explore as does Nigeria and Kenya in particular - the amazing Nervous Conditions as already mentioned

Son of the soil by Wilson Katiyo

July's People by Nadine Gordimer is particularly good

The devil who danced on Water by Aminatta Forna

One of my favourite ever books : My friend Matt and Zena the Whore by Adam Zameezad - very like the Half of a Yellow Sun

Oh so many but i have to go on the school run. I'll be back

Black Mamba Boy, Nadifa Mohamed, gripping & horrific true story of young boy in East Africa during 2nd world war.
Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God.

And, not strictly African but I would also recommend Barry Unsworth, The Sacred Hunger.

Sefi Atta - Everything Good Will Come (have heard her speak, she's v interesting)

Lawrence Hill - The Book of Negroes

There is another but I forget both title and author, I'll need to wait until dd gets home to ask her!

Whatever else you read, do not bother with Chris Cleave's The Other Hand (or Little Bee in the US) It's the biggest load of tripe ever! I've lived in Nigeria for five years and this book is so unrealistic, it's hard to know what on earth he was thinking.....

The other book is The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi.

Another one is Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson. I've not read it yet but it's supposed to be good. www.costabookawards.com/pdfs/FirstNovelWinner.pdf

I like this thread!

Mainly I read W. African authors. I hear good things about Chris Abani, Ben Okri and Chika Unigwe. And I totally agree with the recommendation to read through the African Writers' Series (AWS). There is also a Carribean series by Heinemann, if you are interested

Personally, I would recommend:

Maryse Condé: Ségou (Segu)
So Long a Letter: Mariama Ba (AWS)
God's bits of wood: Semebene Ousmane (AWS)
Anything written by Cyprian Ekwensi and Flora Nwapa
Yoruba Girl Dancing: Simi Bedford
On Black Sisters Street: Chika Unigwe

I'll be back with more, later. :)

mmm- gods bits of wood - i remember fondly.

I think classics in the genre include
Chinua Achebe is particularly good - Things fall Apart
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o - A Grain of Wheat
chenjerai hove - bones
dambudzo marechera -the house of hunger - i remember this being quite an angry young man's story and a little confusing

From the colonialist / outsider perspective - William Boyd writes very amusingly about being in Africa - A Good Man in Africa and Brazzaville Beach being two i'd particularly enjoyed.

"To put it crudely and rudely, here's what happened: a severed penis was found right on the trunk road just outside Tizangara. A large organ on the loose."

That's the opening of Mozambican writer Mia Couto's The Last Flight of the Flamingo (Eng translation). I read it and thought of MN...

And some more great Zimbabwean writers:
Yvonne Vera (short stories, novels)
Masaemura Zimunya (mostly poetry)

Great thread, I've written down a few of these. Most of my favourites have been mentioned but I recently read Tiny Sunbirds Far Away which was really good, Botswana Time by Will Randall and Gail Sobott-Mogwe's short stories (Colour me Blue is the collection I have). I have all Dervla Murphy's books and there are several African ones - Cameroon with Egbert, Ethiopia with a Mule, South of the Limpopo, The Ukimwi Road. Not sure if anyone's said Peter Godwin yet-Mukiwa and Crocodile Ate the Sun.

Oh yes, Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner is good too!

doris lessing is always readable esp ^grass is singing6

Great thread!

Has Anyone mentioned Rian Malan 'my traitor's heart'
Christina Lamb 'house of stone'
I'll be back.

Spud - John van de Ruit, fantastic
Rainbows End - Lauren St John, growing up in Rhodesia, have read it over and over, favourite comfort book
I dreamed of Africa - Kiki Galllmann
Don't run whatever you do - Peter Allison
Twenty Chickens for a Saddle - Robyn Scott
Blood River - Tim Butcher
A Durable Fire - Barbara and Stephanie Keating
House of Stone - Christina Lamb
Goodbye Rhodesia - Chris Mears
Stealing Water - Tim Ecott, I found it quite disturbing and unsettling
Do not take this road to El-Karama - Chris Harvie

I?ve just bookmarked a new company?s website ? www.hoperoadpublishing.com. They specialise in books from African, Caribbean and Asian authors. You might find them a good place to visit for the type of writing you are looking for. The publisher, Rosemarie Hudson, used to run BlackAmber Books, which also has some fascinating African fiction. Happy hunting and happy reading!

Lol! some of the writers above would be considered anti-African writers in particular Conrad. Google Chinua Achebe +Joseph Conrad.

Try this link en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Writers_Series#List_of_Authors_and_Books_In_the_African_Writers_Series For a good list of African writers and their books, some still available via Amazon.

Ngugi wa Thiong is good, Camus is not listed but wrote a few classics ditto Franz Fanon

for more modern African writers it's worth looking at Amazon for lists. I enjoyed Sefi Atta much more than Chimamanda. I have not yet read Chika Unigwe but she is said to be v good too. Loads of good writing coming out from East Africa.

A lot of early African writing was about the 'struggle' for independence. Modern writing focuses on the everyday issues we all deal with but from a different perspective I guess.

Caribbean writers are also worth a look too.

There's a book called 'Dark Continent My Black Arse' which is a South African man's account of his Africa overland on public transport. Can't remember the author but can check later... I wanted to love it but it was not fab. I'd be interested to know if there are other travel accounts not written by arrogant white men (Theroux, I'm looking at you).

The Last Resort is very good, very funny.

Herman Charles Bosman was a writer in the 1940s/50s in South Africa, mostly did short stories, some of which are hilarious.My favourite as a child was about an alcoholic priest in a church who kept on making them sing Psalm 119 (the longest), and would then pass out while his congregation dutifully carried on singing. Most of the stories are set in small rural towns.

Cry the Beloved Country's good - a real classic.

I just finished Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron. A wonderful book, but it is incredibly sad in places. The protagonist is an 800m runner who is hoping to run at the 1996 Olympics, but whose plans are derailed by the Rwandan genocide.

Just marking my place for later too.