I want to read more…

5 great books to put on your list! 2009 has been a good year for literature from authors of African descent. We’re reviewed some of the best of the crop. So if your new year’s resolution is to read more this year, you won’t find a better place to start.

On Black Sisters’ Street by Chika Unigwe
The story of four women, Ama, Efe, Joyce and Sisi, black Nigerian immigrant prostitutes, working in Antwerp, Belgium. They each have their reasons for travelling from the familiar world of Lagos to the mirage of the bright lights of Antwerp.  Read our full review

Push by Sapphire
Push has a lot to answer for. It is brutal in its depiction of the suffering of Clareece Precious Jones, its protagonist. Precious is physically and emotionally abused by her mother, repeatedly raped by her father, and left to bring up two children of these rapes. Unsurprisingly, she has trouble keeping up in school, she’s illiterate – and she is only 16yrs old. Read our full review

I Do Not Come To You By Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
Nwaubani transforms 419 scammers and their world into fresh subject matter for her humorous debut novel I Do Not Come To You By Chance. The narrative centres on Kinglsey , university graduate and son of proud Nigerian parents, who finds himself having to navigate between respectable poverty and disreputable wealth. Read our full review

Harare North by Brian Chikwava
Debut novelist Brian Chikwava has an approach to the complex issues around Zimbabwe that is grittier, nuanced, and ultimately more honest and brave than many writers tackling the subject of political exile. Through his characters he offers an insight into both life in London and life in Zimbabwe. Read our full review

The Global Village – Tell Tales 4
Full to the brim with offerings from writers around the world, Tell Tales is a melting pot of delicious short stories, those of great warmth and richness, those with a slightly tangy edge, and those that leave a downright unsettling taste in the mouth!  Read our full review