Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century
View a copy of the final list.
Over the last hundred years African writers have written of their lives, experiences, culture, history and myth; they have written in diverse forms, styles and in many languages. They have been published widely on the African continent, in Europe, the Americas and Asia. They have written in English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Swahili, and in many other indigenous languages. And they have written with extraordinary originality, flair and great integrity. Nonetheless their work as a corpus deriving from the African continent remains largely unknown and uncelebrated.
To mark the beginning of the 21st century, and encouraged by Professor Ali Mazrui, the Zimbabwe International Book Fair launched the international compilation of "Africa's 100 Best Books." This project was organized in collaboration with the African Publishers Network (APNET), the Pan-African Booksellers Association (PABA), African writers' associations, book development councils, and library associations.
Nominations were sought throughout the African continent and internationally. A comprehensive list of all nominations was published at the ZIBF in August 2001 and during the course of the following year regional panels compiled their own short lists of 100 best books. Closing date for nominations was 30 September 2001.
A jury made the final decision from the short list and the final list of "Africa's 100 Best Books" was announced on February 18, 2002.
See: a copy of the list below.
This allowed ample time for those involved (authors of nominated books and their publishers) to prepare for participation in ZIBF2002. From August 3rd to the 10th in 2002, the fair participants celebrated the authors and publishers on the final list.
Objectives
The aim of this endeavour is:
- to celebrate the achievements of African writers over the last century
- to stimulate debate, discussion, reading, criticism and analysis of African writing
- to foster the publication and development of new titles and those that are currently out of print
- to encourage translation of different texts
- to promote the sale and exchange of books continent-wide and throughout the world
- and above all to increase awareness and knowledge of books and writing by African authors.
Definition of an African
Only books written by Africans are eligible. After extensive discussion and debate the ZIBF has for the purpose of this project identified an African as: 'someone either born in Africa or who became a citizen of an African country.' This definition incorporates those African writers who have moved from their countries of birth to other continents. The issue of authors who are not by this definition deemed African but who consider themselves such or those who have made a notable contribution to African scholarship and literature will be addressed on their merit should their books be nominated.
Criteria for nomination of a book
Nominations were made on the basis that the book has had a powerful, important or affecting influence on the nominator, as an individual, or on society.
What you can do?
- Use this project to generate discussion among your colleagues and friends, with your teachers or students, and in the media.
- Use it as a basis for having African writers in your own cities and countries interviewed, or given a platform to speak and to debate their own work.
- Use it as a positive vehicle for analysis, serious criticism, debate and scholarship.
- Use it as an excuse to buy or loan books and to extend the breadth of your knowledge and understanding of the great wealth of fiction and non-fiction written by Africans about their lives and societies.
- Photocopy, translate, circulate and encourage people to seriously complete the nomination forms. Every serious nomination will lend weight and substance to the list; every book that has made an impact on an individual or on society is worthy of note.
Please address all queries and ideas directly to:
Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association
P. O. Box CY1179
Causeway
Harare
Zimbabwe
Fax: 263 4 702129
Africa 100 Best Books of the 20th Century--Final List
Arranged in the tables below is a copy of the final list of 100 titles announced by the panel of judges in Accra, Ghana, 18 February 2002.
In the table below, ** indicates a top twelve title.
Literature for children
Asare, Meshack | Ghana | **Sosu's Call | Sub-Saharan Publishers |
Al-Homi, Hayam Abbas | Egypt | Adventures of a Breath | Atfalna |
Mungoshi, Charles | Zimbabwe | Stories from a Shona Childhood | Baobab Books |
Tadjo, Veronique | Côte d'Ivoire | Mamy Wata et le monstre | Nouvelles éditions ivoriennes |
Creative writing
Abnudi, `Abd al-Rahman | Egypt | al-Mawt `ala al-asfalt | Atlas |
Achebe, Chinua | Nigeria | Arrow of God | Heinemann |
Achebe, Chinua | Nigeria | **Things Fall Apart | Heinemann |
Aidoo, Ama Ata | Ghana | Anowa | Longman |
Almeida, Germano | Cape Verde | O testamento do Sr. Napumoceno da Silva Araújo | Ed. Caminho |
Armah, Ayi Kwei | Ghana | The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born | Heinemann |
Bâ, Amadou Hampâté | Mali | L'étrange destin de Wangrin | Union générale d'éditions |
Bâ, Mariama | Senegal | **Une si longue lettre | Nouvelles éditions africaines |
Ben Jelloun, Tahar | Morocco | La nuit sacrée | Seuil |
Beti, Mongo | Cameroon | Le pauvre Christ de Bomba | Présence africaine |
Brink, André | South Africa | A Dry White Season | Penguin |
Bugul, Ken | Senegal | Riwan, ou le chemin de sable | Présence africaine |
Cheney-Choker, Syl | Sierra Leone | The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar | Heinemann |
Chraibi, Driss | Morocco | Le passé simple | Gallimard |
Coetzee, J.M. | South Africa | Life and Times of Michael K |
Secker & Warburg |
Couto, Mia | Mozambique | **Terra sonâmbula | Ed. Caminho |
Craveirinha, José | Mozambique | Karingana ua Karingana | Academica |
Dadié, Bernard | Côte d'Ivoire | Climbié | Editions Segiers |
Dangarembga, Tsitsi | Zimbabwe | **Nervous Conditions | Women's Press |
Dib, Mohammed | Algeria | Algérie, La grande maison, L'incendie, Le métier à tisser | Le Seuil |
Diop, Birago | Senegal | Les contes d'Amadou Koumba | Présence africaine |
Diop, Boubacar Boris | Senegal | Murambi ou le livre des ossements | Stock |
Djebar, Assia | Algeria | **L'amour, la fantasia | J.C. Lattes |
Emecheta, Buchi | Nigeria | The Joys of Motherhood | Alison and Busby |
Fagunwa, Daniel O. |
Nigeria | Ogboju ode ninu igbo irunmale | Nelson |
Farah, Nuruddin | Somalia | Maps | Pan Books |
Fugard, Athol | South Africa | The Blood Knot | Simondium Publishers |
Ghitani, Jamal al- | Egypt | Zayni Barakat | GEBO |
Gordimer, Nadine | South Africa | Burgher's Daughter | Jonathan Cape |
Head, Bessie | South Africa | A Question of Power | Heinemann |
Honwana, Bernardo | Mozambique | Nos matamos o cão tinhoso | Academica |
Hove, Chenjerai | Zimbabwe | Bones | Baobab Books |
Isegawa, Moses | Uganda | Abessijnse Kronieken | Uigeverij De Bezige Bij |
Jordan, Archibald Campbell | South Africa | Ingqumbo yeminyanya | Lovedale Press |
Joubert, Elsa | South Africa | Die Swerdjare van Poppie Nongena | Tafelberg |
Kane, Cheikh Hamidou | Senegal | L'aventure ambiguë | Editions Juillard |
Khosa, Ungulani Ba Ka | Mozambique | Ualalapi | AEMO |
Kourouma, Ahmadou | Côte d'Ivoire | Les soleils des indépendances | Le Seuil |
Laye, Camara | Guinea | L'enfant noir | Plon |
Magona, Sindiwe | South Africa | Living, Loving and Lying Awake at Night | David Philip Publishers |
Mahfouz, Naguib | Egypt | **The Cairo Trilogy | Maktabet Misr |
Marechera, Dambudzo | Zimbabwe | House of Hunger | Heinemann |
Mofolo, Thomas | Lesotho | **Chaka | Morija Sesuto Book Depot |
Monenembo, Tierno | Guinea | Un attieké pour Elgass | Le Seuil |
Mutwa, Vusamazulu Credo | South Africa | Indaba, My Children | Blue Crane Books |
Ngugi wa Thiong'o | Kenya | Caitaani Mutharaba-ini | Heinemann |
Ngugi wa Thiong'o | Kenya | **A Grain of Wheat | Heinemann |
Niane, Djibril Tamsir | Senegal | Soundjata ou l'épopée mandingue | Présence africaine |
Nyembezi, Sibusiso | South Africa | Inkinnsela yaseMgungundlovu | Shuter and Shooter |
Okigbo, Christopher | Nigeria | Labyrinths | Heinemann |
Okri, Ben | Nigeria | The Famished Road | Spectrum Books |
Oyono, Ferdinand | Cameroon | Le vieux nègre et la médaille | Editions Juillard |
P'Bitek, Okot | Uganda | Song of Lawino | Heinemann |
Pepetela | Angola | A geração da utopia | Dom Quixote |
Saadawi, Nawal El | Egypt | Woman at Point Zero | Zed Books |
Salih El Tayyib | Sudan | Season of Migration to the North | Heinemann |
Sassine, Williams | Guinea | Le jeune homme de sable | Présence africaine |
Sembene, Ousmane | Senegal | Les bouts de bois de Dieu | Le livre contemporain |
Senghor, Léopold Sédar | Senegal | **Oeuvre poétique | Le Seuil |
Serote, Mongane | South Africa | Third World Express | David Philip Publishers |
Shabaan, Robert Bin |
Tanzania | Utenzi wa vita vya uhuru | East African Literature Bureau |
Sony Labou Tansi | Congo | La vie et demie | Seuil |
Sow Fall, Aminata | Senegal | La grève des battus | Nouvelles éditions africaines |
Soyinka, Wole | Nigeria | Death and the King's Horsemen | Spectrum |
Tchicaya U Tam'si | Congo | Le mauvais sang - feu de brousse - à trisse-coeur | P.J. Swald |
Tutuola, Amos | Nigeria | The Palm-wine Drinkard | Faber |
Vera, Yvonne | Zimbabwe | Butterfly Burning | Baobab Books |
Vieira, José Luandino | Angola | Nós os do Makulusu | [União dos Escritores Angolanos] |
Vilakazi, B.W. | South Africa | Amal'eZulu | Witwatersrand University Press |
Yacine, Kateb | Algeria | Nedjma | Le Seuil |
Scholarship/non-fiction
Amin, Samir | Egypt | Accumulation on a World Scale | Monthly Review Press |
Amadiume, Ifi | Nigeria | Male Daughters, Female Husbands | Zed Books |
Andrade, Mario de |
Angola | Os nacionalismos africanos | Sa da Costa |
Appiah, Anthony | Ghana | In My Father's House | Oxford University Press |
Cabral, Amilcar | Guinea-Bissau | Unity and Struggle | Monthly Review Press |
Chimera, Rocha | Kenya | Kiswahili, past, present and future horizons | Nairobi University Press |
Diop, Cheikh Anta | Senegal | **Antériorité des civilisations nègres | Présence africaine |
Doorkenoo, Efua | Ghana | Cutting the Rose | Minority Rights Group |
Hayford, J.E. Casely | Ghana | Ethiopia Unbound | Cass |
Hountondji, Paulin | Benin | Sur la philosophie africaine | François Maspero |
Johnson, Samuel | Nigeria | The History of the Yorubas | G. Routledge & Sons |
Kenyatta, Jomo | Kenya | Facing Mount Kenya | Secker & Warburg |
Ki-Zerbo, Joseph | Burkina Faso | Histoire de l'Afrique noire | Hatier |
Krog, Antjie | South Africa | Country of My Skull | Jonathan Cape |
Mama, Amina | Nigeria | Beyond the Mask, Race, Gender and Identity | Routledge |
Mamdani, Mahmood | Uganda | Citizen and Subject | James Currey Publishers |
Mandela, Nelson | South Africa | Long Walk to Freedom | Little Brown |
Marais, Eugene | South Africa | Die Siel van die Mier | J.L. van Schaik |
Memmi, Albert | Tunisia | Portrait du colonisé suivi de portrait du colonisateur | L'Etincelle |
Mondlane, Eduardo | Mozambique | The Struggle for Mozambique | Penguin |
Mphahlele, Ezekiel | South Africa | Down Second Avenue | Faber & Faber |
Mudimbe, V.Y. | Dem. Rep. of Congo | The Invention of Africa | Indiana University Press |
Nkrumah, Kwame | Ghana | Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah | Nelson |
Plaatje, Sol | South Africa | Native Life in South Africa | P.S. King |
Soyinka, Wole | Nigeria | **Ake: The Years of Childhood | Rex Collings |
Van Onselen, Charles | South Africa | The Seed is Mine | David Philip Publishers |