African Continent
| Book cover | Book title and author | Book introduction | Websites for more information |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Set in Nigeria during the 1960s, this novel contains three main characters who get swept up in the violence during these turbulent years. It is about Africa, about the end of colonialism, about class and race, and the ways in which love can complicate these things. | Chimamanda's official site |
| The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah | "The story you have asked me to tell begins not with the ignominious ugliness of Lloyd's death but on a long-ago day in April when the sun seared my blistered face and I was nine years old and my father and mother sold me to a strange man. I say my father and my mother, but really it was just my mother". Memory, the narrator of 'The Book of Memory', is an albino woman languishing in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she has been convicted of murder. As part of her appeal her lawyer insists that she write down what happened as she remembers it. The death penalty is a mandatory sentence for murder, and Memory is, both literally and metaphorically, writing for her life. | ||
 |
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe | Things Fall Apart tells the story of Okonkwo, an important man in the Igbo tribe in the days when white men were first on the scene. Okonkwo becomes exiled from his tribe, as a result of his pride and his fears, with tragic consequences. | |
 |
Infinite Riches by Ben Okri | Azaro is a spirit-child who has decided to live in the land of the living. Two dangerous spirits are trying to reclaim him as he lives through turbulent times in Nigeria whilst the country prepares for independence. | |
 |
Crossbones by Nuruddin Farah | A dozen years after his last visit, Jeebleh returns to his beloved Mogadiscio to see old friends. He is accompanied by his son-in-law, Malik, a journalist intent on covering the region's ongoing turmoil. | |
| The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba | When William Kamkwamba was just 14 years old his parents told him that he must leave school and come and work on the family farm as they could no longer afford the $80 a year tuition fees. This is the story of his refusal to give up on learning and reading. | ||
 |
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna | Adrian Lockheart is a psychologist escaping his life in England. Arriving in Freetown in the wake of civil war, he struggles with the heat and with the secrets the country hides. The Memory of Love is a tale of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, addressing the indelible effects of the past on our lives. |
For further inspiration discover past winners and shortlisted titles from the Caine Prize for African Writing: Caine Prize website