“Season of Migration to the North” (1966) was originally published in Arabic but has since been translated into over 20 languages. The book is a regular on middle school and high-school curriculums. The story follows the lives of two members of the Sudanese elite during British occupation in 1899 and into the early years of self-rule. The narrator tells the story in an episodic manner, “giving the reader a sense of being lost in a strange country where he has lost his bearings,” according to Wordwithoutborders.org. The book is used to explore the dangers of passivity in a changing political environment.
“The Fisherman” (2015) is a biblical parable set during Gen. Sani Abacha’s dictatorship in Nigeria. The story follows two curious young boys whose dangerous adventures tear their family apart. The book is a metaphor for the chaos that can ensue when newly liberated nations take advantage of their new freedom without any plans or discipline. Chigozie Obioma is a part of an “eruption” of new popular African novelists onto the literary stage, according to NYTimes.com.
“Waiting for the Barbarians” (1980) was written by South African Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee. The plot is about a servant to the magistrate in a small colonial town outside an unspecified “empire.” The servant tries to stick to his tasks and ignore the impending war between the empire and the barbarians, but after witnessing the cruelty of interrogators against prisoners, he carries out an act of rebellion that lands him in prison. The “empire” is meant to be a parody of the “‘universalized’ version of South Africa, according to Nytimes.com.
“Cry, the Beloved Country” (1948) is about racial injustice in South Africa in the 1940s before apartheid became law. It follows a pastor through the trial of his son, who is accused of murdering a white crusader. The book was an instant bestseller and sold 15 million copies before Paton’s death in 1988. It has been an Oprah Book Club selection. The book is the most famous and important novel in South Africa’s history, according to Amazon.com. Two film adaptations have been made.
“Purple Hibiscus” (2003) is a coming-of-age story about a teenage Nigerian girl living under the tyranny of her devout Catholic father who is physically and emotionally abusive to her, her mother and brother. After living with a kind aunt, the protagonist starts to speak up against her father. The book explores themes like the dangers of religious fanaticism, and won several awards including the 2005 Commonwealth Writer’s Award for “Best First Book,” according to Africabookclub.com.
Moroccan-American novelist Laila Lalami’s “The Moor’s Account” (2014) is a lesson in how dangerous the allure of profit can be for individuals and communities. The story is told through the eyes of a slave on a Spanish expedition to Florida, whose leaders torture natives and risk lives in pursuit of imaginary gold. The story “muses on the ambiguous power of words to either tell the truth or reshape it according to our desires,” according to LATimes.com.
“The Thing Around Your Neck” (2009) is a collection of short stories by the Nigerian author of “Purple Hibiscus.” The stories are usually about young women, and the author has a way of writing that makes readers feel they have dropped into the lives of the main characters. The stories explore themes of hope for a better life as well as isolation from family and comfort, with the characters usually traveling for money or knowledge. The stories are “at once intimate and strange,” according to Telegraph.co.uk.
“Things Fall Apart” (1958) is mandatory reading in most schools throughout Africa. The story follows Okonkwo, a leader of the Igbo tribe in a fictional Nigerian village, through his own personal and political failures. Christian missionaries and British colonialism help unravel the protagonist’s life and traditions. The book teaches how hospitality, kinship, and solidarity are important within a society. The book sold over 8 million copies in English, according to Randomhouse.com.
