The Top 10 Contemporary

African Writers You Should

Know
Anahit Behrooz
Updated: 25 November 2016


In a continent as ethnically and culturally diverse as Africa, it

comes as no surprise that the literature that has emerged
from it be equally diverse and multifaceted. Dealing with a
range of social and cultural issues, from women’s rights and
feminism to post-war and post-colonial identity, here are
some of Africa’s best contemporary writers.
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Chinua Achebe
One of the world’s most widely recognized and praised writers, Chinua Achebe wrote some of the most extraordinary works of the
20th century. His most famous novel,  Things Fall Apart (1958), is a devastating depiction of the clash between traditional tribal
values and the effects of colonial rule, as well as the tension between masculinity and femininity in highly patriarchal societies.
Achebe is also a noted literary critic, particularly known for his passionate critique of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness  (1899),
in which he accuses the popular novel of rampant racism through its othering of the African continent and its people.
 Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe | Image Courtesy of Penguin Modern Classics

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Born in Nigeria in 1977, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is part of a new generation of African writers taking the literary world by
storm. Adichie’s works are primarily character-driven, interweaving the background of her native Nigeria and social and political
events into the narrative. Her novel Purple Hibiscus (2003) is a bildungsroman, depicting the life experience of Kambili and her
family during a military coup, while her latest work Americanah  (2013) is an insightful portrayal of Nigerian immigrant life and race
relations in America and the western world. Adichie’s works have been met with overwhelming praise and have been nominated
for and won numerous awards, including the Orange Prize and Booker Prize.

VIDEO FEATURE
Channel 4 News – “When I was growing up in Nigeria, I
didn’t think of myself as Black. I didn’t need to.” –
Chimimndaa on moving to the US and immigration / 4:37
Ayi Kwei Armah
Ayi Kwei Armah’s novels are known for their intense, powerful depictions of political devastation and social frustration in Armah’s
native Ghana, told from the point of view of the individual. His works were greatly influenced by French existential philosophers,
such as Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, and as such hold themes of despair, disillusionment and irrationality. His most
famous work, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968) centers around an unnamed protagonist who attempts to understand
his self and his country in the wake of post-independence.
 The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born | Image Courtesy of Heinemann

Mariama Bâ
One of Africa’s most influential women authors, Mariama Bâ is known for her powerful feminist texts, which address the issues of
gender inequality in her native Senegal and wider Africa. Bâ herself experienced many of the prejudices facing women: she
struggled for an education against her traditional grandparents, and was left to look after her nine children after divorcing a
prominent politician. Her anger and frustration at the patriarchal structures which defined her life spill over into her literature: her
novel So Long A Letter(1981) depicts, simultaneously, its protagonist’s strength and powerlessness within marriage and wider
society.

Nuruddin Farah
Born in Somalia in 1945, Nuruddin Farah has written numerous plays, novels and short stories, all of which revolve around his
experiences of his native country. The title of his first novel From a Crooked Rib (1970) stems from a Somalian proverb “God
created woman from a crooked rib, and anyone who trieth to straighten it, breaketh it”, and is a commentary on the sufferings of
women in Somalian society through the narrative of a young woman trapped in an unhappy marriage. His subsequent works
feature similar social criticism, dealing with themes of war and post-colonial identity.

Aminatta Forna
Born in Glasgow but raised in Sierra Leone, Aminatta Forna first drew attention for her memoir The Devil That Danced on
Water (2003), an extraordinarily brave account of her family’s experiences living in war-torn Sierra Leone, and in particular her
father’s tragic fate as a political dissident. Forna has gone on to write several novels, each of them critically acclaimed: her
work  The Memory of Love  (2010) juxtaposes personal stories of love and loss within the wider context of the devastation of the
Sierre Leone civil war, and was nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction.
 The Memory of Love, Aminatta Forna | Image Courtesy of Grove Press

Nadine Gordimer
One of the apartheid era’s most prolific writers, Nadine Gordimer’s works powerfully explore social, moral, and racial issues in a
South Africa under apartheid rule. Despite winning a Nobel Prize in Literature for her prodigious skills in portraying a society
interwoven with racial tensions, Gordimer’s most famous and controversial works were banned from South Africa for daring to
speak out against the oppressive governmental structures of the time. Her novel Burger’s Daughter follows the struggles of a
group of anti-apartheid activists, and was read in secret by Nelson Mandela during his time on Robben Island.

European Writers

“I grew up in Europe, where the history comes from”.

Eddie Izzard.

French writers and journalists sometimes use a metaphor to designate the language of other European countries. English is then

the language of Shakespeare, German, the language of Goethe, Italian the language of Dante or Dutch the language of Vondel.

All these expressions refer to national literature heroes, which build the basis of a culture, a history and a nation. Europe is not

the harmonization of all those cultural inheritance, but the full recognition of this diversity into a common and rich patrimony.

Most of the writers below are thus not only of national importance, but also of European meaning to express what the humankind

has done best on this continent.

Portugal

Luís de Camões – Os Lusíadas

Os Lusíadas, translated in English as The Lusiads, is regarded as the best Portuguese piece of literature. His writer Luís Vaz de

Camões (c. 1524 – 1580) became the major figure of Portuguese culture all over the world. Os Lusíadas is an epic and lyrical

poetry in the vein of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey interpreting the Portuguese voyages of discovery during the 15 th and

16th centuries.
Spain

Miguel de Cervantes – Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes (1547 – 1616) left to Spanish culture its most prominent masterpiece, in the name of Don Quixote. Fully

entitled as The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha,Cervantes’ emblematic work of Western literature is considered

as the first modern novel. The story depicts an idealist dreamer who feels himself as a modern knight.

France

Molière – Tartuffe – L’Avare –Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme – L’école de femmes

Actually, there is not in the theater plays of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière (x – 1673), a major play

more famous than another. The greatest master of comedy in Western literature wrote 33 plays from which almost the half bears

a peculiar influence on French culture.

Iceland

Hallgrímur Pétursson – Passíusálmar

The most influential work of literature in Iceland is without doubt the Passíusálmar, translated in English as the Passion Hymns.

Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614 – 1674), a famous poet, priest and minister in Hvalfjörður, wrote a collection of 50 poetic texts

exploring the Passion narrative, from the point where Christ enters the Garden of Gethsemane to his death and burial.

Ireland
 Thomas Moore – Irish Melodies

The poet, singer and songwriter Thomas Moore (1779 – 1852) is an Irish literature hero. He composed the Irish

Melodies containing the prominent song The Minstrel Boy and poem The Last Rose of Summer. The song in particular became

famous in Ireland, as it was sung during the United States Civil War and the World War I

United-Kingdom

William Shakespeare – Hamlet – Othello – Macbeth – Romeo and Juliet

World’s most renowned dramatist William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) became England’s national poet after the success of his

renowned tragedies Hamlet, Othllo, Macbeth or even more Romeo and Juliet. There are still a lot of controversies on his life and

on the possibility that some of his works were written by others.

Norway

Henrik Wergeland – Mennesket

After “Four Hundred Years of Darkness” according to Ibsen’s sentence, during which Norway was a part of Denmark, the rebirth

of Norwegian Literature was to be found in the works of Henrik Wergeland (1808 – 1845), a poet known for his Magnum

opus Mennesket (meaning “Man”),who was remodeled from his previous work Skabelsen, Mennesket og Messias (“Creation,

Man and the Messiah”). This poem depicts the history of Man and God’s plan for humanity, through the character of Stella, the

embodiment of the writer’s ideal love.

Sweden
 Carl Michael Bellman – Fredmans epistlar – Fredmans sånger

Carl Michael Bellman (1740 – 1795) is certainly the most influential poet and composer of Sweden. His main work is

undoubtedly the Fredmans sånger (“Songs of Fredman”), a collection of 65 poems and songs, and the Fredmans

epistler (“Epistles of Fredman”). His texts, often comical in their description of Stockholm, were always tackling the tragic

dimension of human being with topics such as drunkenness, prostitution, illness and death.

Finland

Johan Ludvig Runeberg – Fänrik Ståls sägner

The national poet of Finland Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 -1877) wrote in Swedish. His main literature work Fänrik Ståls

sägner (in English, “The Tales of Ensign Stål”) is regarded as the greatest Finnish epic poem dealing with the Finnish War of

1808–09 with Russia. This conflict resulted in the incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Finland into the Russian Empire.

Denmark

Adam Oehlenschläger – Hakon Jarl Død

Adam Oehlenschläger (1779 – 1850) is a central figure of Danish literature and was crowned in 1829 as the “King of Nordic

poetry”. His masterpiece is certainly his first tragedy entitled Hakon Jarl Død, who was the de facto ruler of Norway from about

975 to 995  . He is also the writer of the Danish national anthem Der er et yndigt land.

Netherlands
 Joost van den Vondel – Joannes de Boetgezant

The greatest Dutch poet and literature hero is to be found in the 17th century. Joost van den Vondel (1587 – 1679) wrote many

famous playwrights, such as Lucifer or Adam in Ballingschap but his prominent writing was the epicJoannes de

Boetgezant which tells the history of John the Baptist. This play is still frequently performed.

Belgium

Maurice Maeterlinck – L’Oiseau bleu

The Belgian playwright, poet and essayist Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 – 1949) was a prominent figure of Belgian Symbolism. He

was awarded in 1911 the Nobel Prize of Literature. His renowned drama L’Oiseau bleu (‘The Blue Bird’) was first performed in

1909 and has been turned since into several films and a TV series. It tells the story of Mytyl and her brother Tyltyl seeking

happiness, represented by The Blue Bird of Happiness, aided by the good fairy Bérylune.

Luxemburg

Edmond de la Fontaine – Mumm Séiss

The national poet, ethnographer, jurist and lyricist Edmond de la Fontaine (1823 – 1891) was better known under his penname

‘Dicks’. He remains today one of the very important figure of Luxembourgian literature. He wrote in particular the comedy

entitled Mumm Séiss.

Germany
 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – Faust

Faust is considered as the supreme genius of modern German literature, and his writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is regarded

as the most prominent figure of the Weimar Classicism. The tragic play of Faust depicts the soul of a young scholar trapped by

Mephistopheles, an embodiment of the devil, who made a bet with God that he could defect his favourite human being.

Switzerland

Albrecht von Haller – Die Alpen

As there is no dominant national language, there is no single Swiss literature, but four different literatures, in German, French,

Italian and Romansh. As the German literature was the first to be developed, the most emblematic writers and poets are to be

found in the German speaking community.Albrecht von Haller (1708 – 1777) published his poem of 490 hexameters Die

Alpen (‘The Alps’) in 1729 and was the first author to consider the natural and idyllic life in the mountains with pure inhabitants,

in contrast with the corrupt and decadent existence of the dwellers in the plains.

Italy

Dante Alighieri – La divina commedia

Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321) remains the essential reference of Italian literature. In Italy the prose writer has been given the

name of il Sommo Poeta (‘the Supreme Poet’) or just il Poeta. In the epic poem “The Divine Comedy”, Dante describes on the

surface his travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; but at a deeper level, it represents allegorically the soul’s journey

towards God.

Malta
 Dun Karm Psaila – L-Innu Malti

The ‘bard of Malta’Dun Karm Psaila (1871 – 1961) is regarder as the national poeat of the isle. He is known for having

written L-Innu Malti(‘the Maltese Hymn’). The poems of Dun Karm Psaila are well known for their religious and patriotic

currents, and so are the verses written for the anthem. The hymn was already being sung in December 1922, mostly in

governmental schools.

Austria

Franz Grillparzer – Der Traum, ein Lebe

The Austrian dramatist Franz Grillparzer (1791 – 1872) who also wrote the oration for Ludwig van Beethoven’s funeral wrote

the famous drama The Dream, a Life. It tells the aspirations of Rustan, an ambitious young peasant, that are shadowed forth in the

hero’s dream, before awaking from his nightmare to realize the truth that all earthly ambitions and aspirations are vanity; the only

true happiness is contentment with one’s lot and inner peace.

Czech Republic

Jan Neruda – Povídky malostranské

The Czech journalist, writer and poet, Jan Neruda (1834 – 1891) was one of the most prominent representatives of Czech

Realism and a member of “the May school”. His masterpiece Povídky malostranské (‘Tales of the Little Side’) is a collection of

short stories, which take the reader to the Lesser Quarter, with its several streets and yards, shops, churches, houses, and

restaurants.

Slovakia
 Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav – Hájnikova žena

Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav (1849 – 1921) was chiefly known for his epic poems and lyrist works of literature. His

novel Hájnikova žena (‘The Gamekeeper’s Wife’) has been described by his fellows as a “living picture of the forest”. The story

takes place in the Carpathians and tells de story of a gamekeeper and his wife Hanka, who kills the son of their master when he

attempts to rape her.

Poland

Adam Mickiewicz – Pan Tadeusz

Adam Mickiewicz (1789 – 1855) is one of Poland’s Three Bards, along with Juliusz Słowacki (1809–1849) and Zygmunt

Krasiński (1812–1859) and regarded as the greatest poet in all of Polish literature. The epic poem Pan Tadeusz (‘Sir Thaddeus’)

is a compulsory reading in Polish schools as it depicts the national epic of Poland. The story takes place over at the time when

Poland-Lithuania had already been divided and erased from the political map of Europe, in 1811.

Lithuania

Kristijonas Donelaitis – Metai

The Lutheran pastor Kristijonas Donelaitis (1714 – 1780) was the first poet to write a poem in Lithuanian. Metai (‘The Seasons’)

became one of the principal works of Lithuanian poetry and a classic work of Lithuanian literature. It portrays everyday life of

Lithuanian peasants, their struggle with serfdom, and the annual cycle of life.

Latvia
 Rainis – Uguns un nakts

Rainis is the pseudonym for the Latvian poet, playwright and politicanJānis Pliekšāns (1865 – 1929) who became a leading

representative of Latvian ethnic symbolism and literature.  Uguns un nakts(‘Fire and Night’) and Indulis un Ārija (‘Indulis und

Arija’) are his most famous playwright. Rainis also gained fame with his translation of Goethe’s Faust.

Estonia

Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald – Kalevipoeg

The most famous representative of Estonian literature is undoubtedly Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803 – 1882), regarded

today as the national literature of Estonia. His poem in alliterative verse Kalevipoeg (‘Kalev’s Son’) is considered as the Estonian

national epic. It tells the story of Kalevipoeg a giant hero of old Estonian folklore who travels to Finland in search of his

kidnapped mother.

Byelorussia

Yakub Kolas – Рыбакова хата

Yakub Kolas, or in Belarusian Яку́б Ко́лас (1882 – 1956) was designated as ‘People’s Poet of the Byelorussian SSR’ in 1926.

His poem Рыбакова хата(‘The Fisherman’s Hut’) is about the fight after unification of Belarus with the Soviet state. In his

works of art, he often portrayed peasant life style in Byelorussia.

Ukraine
 Taras Shevchenko – Zapovit

Taras Shevchenko’s (1814 – 1861) is regarded as the founder of Ukrainian literature and, the greatest contributor to Ukrainian

language. His works of art contributed significantly to the growth of Ukrainian national consciousness. His poem Zapovit

(‘Testament’) has been translated into more than 60 languages. It starts with the famous verse “When I am dead, bury me/In my

beloved Ukraine.”

Moldova & Romania

Mihai Eminescu – Luceafărul

Luceafărul (‘The Morning Star’) is generally regarded as Mihai Eminescu’s (1850 – 1889) greatest work of art and a major

contribution to Moldovan culture. Luceafăr in Romanian is the name of the planet Venus which in folklore is associated with

demons but is also linked to the Greek Titan Hyperion.

Hungary

Sándor Petőfi – Nemzeti dal

Sándor Petőfi’s poems inspired the revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary which eventually led to the independence war against

the Austrian Empire.  Sándor Petőfi (1823 – 1849) was himself involved in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and is supposed to

have died in the battlefields. His Nemzeti dal(‘National Poem’) was first read on March 15 in Vörösmarty Square in Budapest to

a gathering crowd, which by the end was chanting the refrain while marching around the city.

Slovenia
 France Prešeren – Krst pri Savici

The Slovene national poet France Prešeren (1800 – 1849) is a very inspiring source for the Slovene literature. Krst pri

Savici translated as ‘The Baptism at Savica Falls’ is an epic poem dedicated in a first part to Prešeren’s recently deceased friend,

then describing the battle between Christians and pagan Slavs and finally portraying the romantic relationship between Črtomir

and Bogomila.

Croatia

Marko Marulić – Judita

The Christian humanist Marko Marulić (1450 – 1524) is regarded as the Croatian national poet or the ‘father of Croatian

literature’. He wrote in 1501 Judita (‘Judith’) which intends to show to the common people the exemplary model of Biblical

Judith, for it to see what can the yield the confidence to God and eternal justice.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ivo Andrić – Na Drini Ćuprija

The 1961 Nobel Price of Literature Ivo Andrić (1892 – 1975) was a novelist and one of the most influential Bosnian writer. He

published in 1961 Na Drini Ćuprija (‘The Bridge on the Drina’), a novel depicting four centuries of Ottoman and subsequently

Austro-Hungarian power in the region and the lives of  local inhabitants, with a particular focus on Muslims and Orthodox

Christians living in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbia & Montenegro

 Petar II Petrović-Njegoš – Горски вијенац

Petar II Petrović-Njegoš (1813 – 1851) is the greatest Serbian poet who was also the ruler of Montenegro who turned his state

from a theocracy into a secular state. He notably wrote the modern epic poem and play Горски вијенац meaning in English ‘The

Mountain Wreath’. Set in eighteenth-century Montenegro, the poem deals with attempts of Njegoš’s ancestor Danilo to regulate

relations among the region’s warring tribes.

Macedonia

Kočo Racin – Бели мугри

Kosta Apostolov Solev, nicknamed Kočo Racin (1908 – 1943) is regarded as one of the founder of Macedonian Literature.

Besides being a revolutionary, he wrote one of the most prominent works of literature of Macedonian culture, namely Бели

мугри (‘White Dawns’). White Dawns is a collection of 12 poems dealing with Macedonian way of life.

Albania

Naim Frashëri – Bagëti e Bujqësi

The national poet Naim Frashëri (1846 – 1900) is regarded as one of the most prominent figures of the Albanian national

awakening. He wrote in particular the masterpiece Bagëti e Bujqësi (‘Herds and Tillage’) in two acts, the first one presenting

the pastoral life, the beauties of the sheep flock, and the second focused on agriculture on the way of life of farmers.

Bulgaria
 Ivan Vazov – Под игото

The Patriarch of Bulgarian literature Ivan Vazov (1850 – 1921) was a poet, novelist and playwright whose most famous work of

literature was the novel Под игото meaning Under the Yoke translated into more than 30 languages. It deals with the history of

the Ottoman oppression of Bulgaria.

Greece

Homer –  Ιλιάς– Ὀδύσσεια

Homer (ca. 8th century BC) is without doubt the founder of the Western classical tradition and is revered as the greatest ancient

Greek epic poet. His influence on the history of literature is enormous as his Iliad and Odyssey are considered as the Western

canon of literature.

Turkey

Fuzûlî – Dîvân-ı Fuzûlî

Fużūlī (1483 – 1556) was the pen name of the Ottoman poet, writer and thinker Muhammad bin Suleyman. He is considered as

the greatest contributor to the Dîvân tradition, notably by compiling poems in his Dîvân-ı Fuzûlî, mainly dealing with love.

15 best North American novels of all time

 Fear and Loathing, The Grapes of Wrath, Moby-Dick: we pick the big, brave
and occasionally brash best North American novels ever written

Best American novels of all time (clockwide from top left): JD Salinger, Infinite Jest by David Foster
Wallace, Tom Wolfe, For Whom the Bell Toll by Ernest Hemingway  

11:00AM BST 16 Apr 2014

The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)

Uniquely among male novelists of his era, Hawthorne’s compelling story of the callous judgment
meted out to an unmarried mother by the puritans of Boston, Massachusetts, is a moving and
thoughtful study of society’s ambivalent and contradictory treatment of women.
Buy The Scarlet Letter from the Telegraph Bookshop
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Moby-Dick
Herman Melville (1851)

“In landlessness alone resides highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God,” says wandering sailor
Ishmael, as he sets sail with vengeful Quaker Captain Ahab on the hunt for the monstrous white
whale that maimed him. Fathoms deep in allusion and nautical nomenclature.
Buy Moby-Dick from the Telegraph Bookshop
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain (1884)
Set in the geographic centre of the antebellum US, the sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is
the colourful tale of an abused and motherless boy’s coming of age along the Mississippi River
which wittily challenged America’s perception of itself as the “sivilized” land of the free.
Buy The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the Telegraph Bookshop
The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton (1905)

Caught between her entitled taste for luxury and her yearning for true love, Lily Bart, the beautiful
and intelligent heroine of this acutely observed novel slowly slithers down the rungs of superficial
New York society to a tragic end.
Buy The House of Mirth from the Telegraph Bookshop
The Call of the Wild
Jack London (1903)

When men “groping in the Arctic darkness” strike gold, a proud St Bernard-Scotch Collie called Buck
is sold into sledgehauling slavery. It’s survival of the fittest in what E L Doctorow described as this
most “fervently American” club and fang adventure.
Buy The Call of the Wild from the Telegraph Bookshop
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck (1939)

“I’ve done my damndest to rip a reader’s nerves to rags,” Steinbeck said of his novel about a poor
family of “Okies” driven from their land in the Great Depression. It was the main reason he was
awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Buy The Grapes of Wrath from the Telegraph Bookshop
Independence Day
Richard Ford (1995)

The second book in Ford’s trilogy about Frank Bascombe – sportswriter turned realtor. Coiner of
such quirky phrases as “happy as goats” and “solitary as Siberia” Bascombe’s been described as
“America’s most convincing everyman”. Ford says he’s “asleep at the switch”.
Buy Independence Day from the Telegraph Bookshop
The Colossus of Maroussi
Henry Miller (1941)
This impressionistic travelogue, whose rolling, incantatory style predicted the Beat Generation, was
inspired by the time Miller spent in Greece with Lawrence Durrell before the SecondWorldWar. He
felt “like a cockroach” but “came home to the world” at Mycenae.
Buy The Colossus of Maroussi from the Telegraph Bookshop
The Catcher in the Rye
J D Salinger (1951)

Salinger’s “sort of” autobiographical account of the misfit Holden Caulfield’s flight from his “phony”
prep school is a controversial classic of adolescent angst that has inspired readers as diverse as
President George HW Bush and John Lennon’s assassin Mark Chapman.
Buy The Catcher in the Rye from the Telegraph Bookshop
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Hunter S Thompson (1971)

Described by Tom Wolfe as a “scorching epochal sensation”, this reckless, drugfuelled “gross,
physical salute to the fantastic possibilities of life in this country” is a funny, furious and disorienting
attack on the American Dream by the original gonzo journalist.
Buy Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas from the Telegraph Bookshop
Beloved
Toni Morrison (1987)
With an epigraph of “60 Million and more” dedicated to victims of the Atlantic slave trade, this
psychologically complex, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is about a former slave who kills her infant
daughter rather than allow her to be recaptured.
Buy Beloved from the Telegraph Bookshop
All the Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy (1992)

The reclusive author best known for bringing a biblical sense of evil into his portrayal of the
unforgiving American landscape achieved mainstream success with this tale of a talented 16-year-
old horse breaker, evicted from his Texan ranch in 1940. First in the Border Trilogy.
Buy All the Pretty Horses from the Telegraph Bookshop
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers (1940)

The debut of a 23-year-old author, this small-town drama set in the Depression-era South tells of a
teenage girl, an African-American doctor, an alcoholic socialist, and a taciturn diner owner who all
think the local deaf-mute “gets” them. He doesn’t.
Buy The Heart is a Lonely Hunter from the Telegraph Bookshop
Fugitive Pieces
Anne Michaels (1996)

In this haunting narrative of a Jewish boy who hides while the Nazis take his family, the Canadian
poet wrote that death first becomes believable when “You recognise the one whose loss, even
contemplated, you’ll carry forever, like a sleeping child.”
Buy Fugitive Pieces from the Telegraph Bookshop
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Lionel Shriver (2003)

Even to his mother, Kevin Katchadourian has been a creature of “opaque predilections” since birth.
But she spends this novel trying to work out why her son committed a school massacre.Was her
snobbery about her fellow Americans a cause?
Buy We Need to Talk About Kevin from the Telegraph Bookshop
THE OTHER CONTENDERS
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)

Buy Uncle Tom's Cabin from the Telegraph Bookshop

The Great Gatsby
F Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

Buy The Great Gatsby from the Telegraph Bookshop

For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway (1940)

Buy For Whom the Bell Tolls from the Telegraph Bookshop
Rabbit, Run
John Updike (1960)

Buy Rabbit, Run from the Telegraph Bookshop

The Color Purple
Alice Walker (1982)
Buy The Color Purple from the Telegraph Bookshop
The Human Stain
Philip Roth (2000)

Buy The Human Stain from the Telegraph Bookshop

White Noise
Don DeLillo (1985)

Buy White Noise from the Telegraph Bookshop

The Bonfire of the Vanities
Tom Wolfe (1987)

Buy The Bonfire of the Vanities from the Telegraph Bookshop

The Shipping News
Annie Proulx (1993)

Buy The Shipping News from the Telegraph Bookshop

Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace (1996)
 Burger’s Daughter | Image Courtesy of Penguin Books

Alain Mabanckou
Originating from the Republic of Congo, Alain Mabanckou’s works are written primarily in French, and are well known for their
biting wit, sharp satire and insightful social commentary into both Africa and African immigrants in France. His novels are strikingly
character-focused, often featuring ensemble casts of figures, such as his book Broken Glass, which focuses on a former
Congolese teacher and his interactions with the locals in the bar he frequents, or his novel Black Bazar, which details the
experiences of various African immigrants in an Afro-Cuban bar in Paris.

Alain Mabanckou | ©ActuaLitté/Flickr
Ben Okri
Ben Okri’s childhood was divided between England and time in his native Nigeria. His young experience greatly informed his
future writing: his first, highly acclaimed novels Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981) were reflections
on the devastation of the Nigerian civil war which Okri himself observed firsthand. His later novels met with equal praise: The
Famished Road (1991), which tells the story of Azaro, a spirit child, is a fascinating blend of realism and depictions of the spirit
world, and won the Booker Prize.
 Infinite Riches | Image Courtesy of Vintage Publishing House

Ngugi wa Thiong’o
Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of Africa’s most important and influential postcolonial writers. He began his writing career with novels
written in English, which nevertheless revolved around postcolonial themes of the individual and the community in Africa versus
colonial powers and cultures. Wa Thiong’o was imprisoned without trial for over a year by the government for the staging of a
politically controversial play; after his release, he committed to writing works only in his native Gikuyi and Swahili, citing language
as a key tool for decolonizing the mindset and culture of African readers and writers.