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African novels

89 articles

A Dry White Season

A Dry White Season is a 1979 novel by South African author André Brink about an Afrikaner schoolteacher's investigation into a black gardener's death in police custody.

A Grain of Wheat

A Grain of Wheat is a 1967 novel by the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (James Ngugi), set in a Kenyan village on the eve of independence in 1963.

Adili na Nduguze

Adili na Nduguze (Adili and His Brothers) is a 1952 allegorical novel in Kiswahili by Tanzanian writer Shaaban Robert, the middle work of his allegorical trilogy.

Agaat

Agaat is a 2004 Afrikaans novel by Marlene van Niekerk about Milla de Wet and her servant Agaat, who inherits her farm; it won the Hertzog Prize.

Allah Is Not Obliged

Allah Is Not Obliged (Allah n'est pas obligé) is a 2000 novel by Ivorian writer Ahmadou Kourouma about Birahima, a child soldier in the Liberian and Sierra Leonean wars.

Ambiguous Adventure

Ambiguous Adventure (L'Aventure ambiguë) is a 1961 novel by Senegalese writer Cheikh Hamidou Kane about a young Fulani boy caught between Islamic tradition and French colonial education; it won the 1962 Grand Prix Littéraire d'Afrique Noir.

An Instant in the Wind

An Instant in the Wind ('n Oomblik in die Wind) is a 1975 novel by André Brink about a white woman and a runaway slave in 18th-century South Africa.

An Orchestra of Minorities

An Orchestra of Minorities is a 2019 novel by the Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma, shortlisted for the Booker Prize and narrated by a guardian spirit, or chi.

Between Tides

Between Tides (French: Entre les eaux) is a 1973 novel by Congolese writer Valentin-Yves Mudimbe, telling of a priest caught between Christianity and the Congolese rebellion.

Black Bazaar

Black Bazaar is a 2009 novel by the Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou about a Congolese immigrant in Paris, a dandy nicknamed Fessologue, who discovers writing after his companion leaves him.

Black Moses

Black Moses is the English title of Petit Piment, a 2015 novel by the Congolese-French writer Alain Mabanckou, translated by Helen Stevenson in 2017 and longlisted for the Man Booker International prize.

Blue White Red

Blue White Red is a 1998 debut novel by Congolese-French writer Alain Mabanckou about a young Congolese man's disillusioning experience of illegal immigration in Paris.

Dark Heart of the Night

Dark Heart of the Night (French: L'Intérieur de la nuit) is a 2005 debut novel by Cameroonian-French writer Léonora Miano, set in a fictional central African country.

Devil on the Cross

Devil on the Cross (Caitaani Mũtharaba-inĩ) is a 1982 novel by the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, his own English translation of the first novel he wrote in Gĩkũyũ.

Dunia Ulimwengu

Dunia Ulimwengu, short for Dunia uwanja wa fujo ("The World Is an Arena of Chaos"), is a 1975 Swahili novel by Tanzanian writer Euphrase Kezilahabi.

Elonga

Elonga is a novel in French by the Gabonese writer Angèle Ntyugwetondo Rawiri, published in Paris in 1980 and widely regarded as the first novel by a Gabonese woman.

Feso

Feso is a 1956 novel by Zimbabwean writer Solomon Mutswairo, widely credited as the first novel written in the Shona language, telling of war and love between two Shona chiefdoms.

Forest of a Thousand Daemons

Forest of a Thousand Daemons, originally Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmọlẹ̀, is a fantasy novel by Nigeria's D. O. Fagunwa, the first written in Yoruba.

God's Bits of Wood

God's Bits of Wood (French: Les Bouts de bois de Dieu) is a 1960 novel by Senegalese writer Ousmane Sembène about the 1947–48 Dakar-Niger railroad strike.

Good Morning Comrades

Good Morning Comrades (original Portuguese title Bom dia, camaradas) is a 2001 Angolan novel by Ondjaki, his first, narrated by a twelve-year-old boy in Luanda during the civil war.

Houseboy

Houseboy is the English title of Une vie de boy (1956), a French-language satirical anti-colonial novel by the Cameroonian writer Ferdinand Oyono, translated by John Reed in 1966.

Insila kaShaka

Insila kaShaka is a 1930 historical novel by John Langalibalele Dube, widely reported to be the first novel in isiZulu, telling of Jeqe, King Shaka's body servant.

Johnny Mad Dog

Johnny Mad Dog (French: Johnny chien méchant) is a 2002 novel by Congolese writer Emmanuel Dongala about a child soldier and a schoolgirl during an African civil war.

King Lazarus

King Lazarus is the English title of Le roi miraculé, a 1958 novel by the Cameroonian writer Mongo Beti about a tribal chief who converts to Catholicism.

Kufikirika

Kufikirika is a short allegorical novel in Kiswahili by the Tanzanian writer Shaaban Robert, set in an imaginary kingdom and published by Oxford University Press in 1967.

Kusadikika

Kusadikika is a Swahili-language allegorical novel by Shaaban Robert, first published in 1951, satirizing greed, abuse of power, and the expectation that people believe without questioning.

Life and a Half

Life and a Half, also known as La Vie et demie, is the 1979 debut novel of Congolese writer Sony Labou Tansi, a founding text of the African dictator novel.

Looking on Darkness

Looking on Darkness is the English title of Kennis van die aand, a 1973 novel by André Brink that became the first Afrikaans literary work banned by apartheid censors.

Maru

Maru is a 1971 novel by the South African-born writer Bessie Head, set in the fictional Botswana village of Dilepe, centered on Tswana prejudice against the Masarwa people.

Matigari

Matigari, full Gĩkũyũ title Matigari ma Njirũũngi, is a 1986 novel by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o about a freedom fighter who returns after independence to search for truth and justice.