I will compile various reading lists as a resource for the soon-to-be-announced Africa Reading Challenge.   I thought it best to start with this list.

Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century was an initiative by the Zimbabwe International Book Fair with encouragement from the historian Ali Mazrui.  For the purposes of this list, an African is “someone either born in Africa or who became a citizen of an African country.”

The 100-book list includes children’s literature, creative writing and non-fiction.  Only creative writing works are present below.   

I find that it omits certain people like Alex La Guma and Alifa Rifaat. Anyway, it’s a good starting place for those looking for classic African literature.  Unfortunately, some of the books are out of print.  I have culled from the overall list those works of creative writing which are still in print and/or are available at a library (hopefully) somewhere near you.

(Note: I used ImageNations’ list of the 70 creative works. The entire list, Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century,  is here.)

1. Achebe, Chinua (Nigeria)–Arrow of God
2. Achebe, Chinua (Nigeria)–Things Fall Apart
3. Aidoo, Ama Ata (Ghana)—Anowa (drama)
4. Almeida, Germano (Cape Verde)–O testamento do Sr. Napumonceno da Silva Araujo (The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo)
5. Armah, Ayi Kwei (Ghana)–The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
6. Ba, Amadou Hampate (Mali)–L’etrange destin de Wangrin  (Fortunes of Wangrin)
7. Ba, Mariama (Senegal)–Une si longue lettre (So Long a Letter)
8. Ben Jelloun, Tahar (Morocco)–La nuit sacree (The Sacred Night)
9. Beti, Mongo (Cameroon)–Le pauvre Christ de Bomba (The Poor Christ of Bomba)
10. Brink, Andre (South Africa)–A Dry White Season
11. Cheney-Coker, Syl (Sierra Leone)–The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar
12. Coetzee, J.M. (South Africa)–Life and Times of Michael K
13. Couto, Mia (Mozambique)—Terra sonambula (Sleepwalking Land)
14. Dangarembga, Tsitsi (Zimbabwe)—Nervous Conditions
15. Djebar, Assia (Algeria)–L’amour, la fantasia (Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade)
16. Emecheta, Buchi (Nigeria)–The Joys of Motherhood
17. Farah, Nuruddin (Somalia)—Maps
18. Fugard, Athol (South Africa)–The Blood Knot (drama)
19. Gordimer, Nadine (South African)—Burgher’s Daughter
20. Head, Bessie (South Africa)–A Question of Power

     

21. Honwana, Bernardo (Mozambique)–Nos motamos o cao tinhoso (We Killed Mangy-Dog and Other Mozambican Stories)
22. Hove, Chenjerai (Zimbabwe)—Bones
23. Isegawa, Moses (Uganda)—Abessijnse Kronieken (Abyssinian Chronicles)
24. Joubert, Elsa (South Africa)–Die Swerdjare van Poppie Nongena (Poppie Nongena)
25. Kane, Cheikh Hamidou (Senegal)—L’aventure ambigue (Ambiguous Adventure)
26. Kourouma, Ahmadou (Cote d’Ivoire)–Le soileils des independances (Suns of Independence)
27. Laye Camara (Guinea)—L’enfant noir (The Dark Child: The Autobiography of an African Boy)
28. Magona, Sindiwe (South Africa)–Living, Loving, and Lying Awake at Night
29. Mahfouz, Naguib (Egypt)–The Cairo Trilogy
30. Marechera, Dambudzo (Zimbabwe)–House of Hunger
31. Mofolo, Thomas (Lesotho)—Chaka
32. Mutwa, Vusamazulu Credo (South Africa)–Indaba, My Children
33. Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Kenya)–Caitaana Mutharaba-ini (Devil on the Cross)
34. Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Kenya)–A Grain of Wheat
35. Niane, Djibril Tamsir (Senegal)–Soundjata ou l’epopee mandingue (Sundiata: An epic of old Mali)
36. Okibgo, Christopher (Nigeria)—Labyrinths (poetry)
37. Okri, Ben (Nigeria)–The Famished Road
38. P’Bitek, Okot (Uganda)–Song of Lawino (prose poetry)
39. Saadawi, Nawal El (Egypt)–Woman at the Point Zero
40. Salih El Tayyib (Sudan)–Season of Migration to the North
41. Sembene, Ousmane (Senegal)–Les bouts des bois de Dieu  (God’s Bits of Wood)
42. Sony Labou Tansi (Congo)–La vie et demie  (Life and a Half: A Novel)
43. Sow Fall, Aminata (Senegal)–La greve des battus (The Beggars’ Strike)
44. Soyinka, Wole (Nigeria)–Death and the King’s Horsemen (drama)
45. Tutuola, Amos (Nigeria)–The Palm-Wine Drinkard
46. Vera, Yvonne (Zimbabwe)—Butterfly Burning
47. Yacine, Kateb (Algeria)—Nedjma