African Texts

When Josh and I had lunch while I was home, he asked me to give him the names of some well-known African authors so he could find and read some African texts. I finally started writing some stuff down...then I went a little crazy. But I decided it was a good list to post. Enjoy!!

Key:
** Books I've read and recommend
* Books by authors I've read, but not this particular text
Boooks by recommended, well-known authors

Books originally in English :
**Chinue Achebe (Nigeria) : Things Fall Apart (the most classic African text…ever !)
**Buchi Emecheta (Nigeria) : The Joys of Motherhood (a very interesting commentary on the practice of polygamy)
**Tsitsi Dengaremba (Zimbabwe) : Nervous Conditions
*JM Coetzee (South Africa) : The Life and Times of Michael K.; Disgrace
*Wole Soyinka (Nigeria) : Death and the King’s Horsemen; Ake : The Years of Childhood (nonfiction) (remember him being a rather complex writer)
Ngugi wa Thiang’o (Kenya) : Grain of Wheat (always meant to read this one…!)
Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) : The Cairo Trilogy (African Noble Laureate)
Nadine Gordimer (South Africa) : Burgher’s Daughter (African Noble Laureate)
**Amos Tutuola (Nigeria) : The Palm-wine Drinkard (a classic comedy piece)
Alan Paton (South Africa) : Cry the Beloved Country
Chenjerai Hove (Zimbabze) : Bones

Books originally in French…I gave the English-translated title where I know it exists. Those written in French include my "translation" of the title, yet I’m not sure that a translated text exists
**Mariama Bâ (Senegal) : So Long a Letter
*Assia Djebar (Algeria) : Algerian White (she’s the only non-French born citizen in the Academie Nationale, the governing body responsible for maintaining the integrity of the French language)
**Franz Fanon (Martinique) : Black Skin, White Masks; The Damned of the Earth (both nonfiction)
**Ahmadou Kourouma (Ivory Coast) : Les Soleils des Indépendances; Allah n’est pas obligé (both fantastic! Maybe translated, The Independent Sun, and Allah is not Obliged…the second is about child soldiers in the civil war in the Ivory Coast)
*Albert Memi (Tunisia) : Portrait du Colonisé suivi de portrait du colonisateur (Portrait of the colonized followed by the portrait of the colonizer)
**Azouz Begag (born in France to Algerian immigrant parents) : Le gone du Chaâba (The kid of the Chaâba)
**Tahar Ben Jelloun (Marocco) : La nuit sacrée (The Sacred Night)