African Literature has always been rich in the people’s culture and their way of life. Many literary geniuses like Chinua Achebe, Wole Syinka, and C.N. Adichie has helped shape the voices of modern African writers. Their works are celebrated worldwide for its intensity, observations of the human psyche and exploration of identity in a post-colonial world. If you are looking for books to deep dive into the world of African literature, The Bombay Circle Press is here to provide handpicked recommendations.
- The Interpreters by Wole Soyinka
This was the first novel published by the Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka. Set in post-independence and pre-civil war Nigeria of the 1960s, the novel revolves around five characters. Kola the artist, Sagoe the journalist, Sekoni the engineer, Lasunwcn the lawyer, and Egbo the fiery aristocrat, all in restless search for identity. This novel is a work of extraordinary richness and depth. It follows the life of its central characters without a definite plot driving the narrative, providing a rare peek into their psyche.
- Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years. Joyfully polyphonic and vibrantly contemporary, this is a gloriously new kind of history, a novel of our times: celebratory, ever-dynamic and utterly irresistible. The book was the co-winner of the 2019 Booker Prize, alongside Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. Painfully real depictions of being a woman, simply existing, that jolts you from the inside. It presents the struggle of diasporic lives of its characters.
- Sula by Toni Morrison
Sula and Nel are two young black girls: clever and poor. They grow up together sharing their secrets, dreams and happiness. Then Sula breaks free from their small-town community in the uplands of Ohio to roam the cities of America. When she returns ten years later much has changed. Including Nel, who now has a husband and three children. The friendship between the two women becomes strained and the whole town grows wary as Sula continues in her wayward, vagabond and uncompromising ways.
- Dangerous Love by Ben Okri
This novel follows the story of Omovo, a young man who is trapped in an unfortunate situation of life. His mother passed away and his brothers fled from their oppressive and violent father. However, two things keep him together—art and love. He loves to paint and his love follows a woman named Ifeyiwa, a married woman, who reciprocated his feelings. Set in the Biafran post-civil war period, the plot is heavily laid with the aftermath of such a tragedy, filled with grief for those lost. A country devastated by colonial oppression and civil war, the characters yearn to redeem themselves of their past and move towards a better future. Art and love almost seem like a character present in the novel, acting as catalysts for their human characters.
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