10 Stories and Poems for Reading Africa Week
Posted on December 02, 2024
During the first week of December, WWB Campus is #ReadingAfrica! Started by indie publisher Catalyst Press in 2017, Reading Africa Week “bring[s] attention to writers who are doing diverse and genre-spanning work from every corner of the African continent.” It’s a great opportunity to introduce students to literature from a part of the world that is often overlooked on classroom curricula. Here are 10 works of literature from Africa that cover a range of countries, languages, and genres to start you on your reading journey:
From Egypt:
- “Amina,” “Things Elude Me,” and “Sometimes Wisdom Possesses Me,” by Iman Mersal (translated from Arabic by Khaled Mattawa): three poems that explore ideas of friendship, freedom, and returning home (check out our Egypt unit for even more recommendations)
From South Africa:
- “Coloureds,” by the Trantraal Brothers (translated from Afrikaans by the authors): a series of comics exploring poverty, racism, and multiracial identity in post-apartheid society
“Affirm,” by Martin SIEP Muller (translated from Kaaps by Andre Trantraal): an empowering rap celebrating the individual, translated from a marginalized language
From Algeria:
- “Black Saturday” by Djamila Morani (translated from Arabic by Sawad Hussain): an excerpt from the YA novel The Djinn’s Apple in which a girl survives a fatal attack on her family
From Tunisia:
- “Clairvoyant in the City of the Blind,” by Amina Saïd (translated from French by Marilyn Hacker): three poems about life, death, and memory
From Côte d’Ivoire:
“Aya,” by Marguerite Abouet (translated from French by Helge Dascher): a story about everyday adolescence from a popular series of graphic novels (which were even adapted into an animated movie!)
From Tanzania:
- “Desertion,” by Abdulrazak Gurnah: a self-contained novel excerpt that explores colonialism and prejudice in nineteenth-century East Africa through the eyes of a Londoner
From Mozambique:
- “De(s)igns,” by Hélder Faife (translated from Portuguese by Sandra Tamele and Eric M. B. Becker): three playful poems exploring children’s imagination
For more reading recommendations from Africa, check out the hashtags #ReadingAfrica or #ReadingAfricaWeek on your favorite social media platform. Or, search for literature by country in the magazine Words Without Borders to find reading recommendations from Angola to Zimbabwe.