To celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, here’s a non-exhaustive list of some excellent African women writers, and the books that put them on my list.
If you click on the name, you will be taken to the author’s Wikipedia page, where available. Where I wrote a review on my blog, I have added the link below. I may update this post with writers I missed.
I’m in awe of Ms Gappah’s writing, which in my opinion is always excellent, with her distinct authorial voice. My post on Out of Darkness, Shining Light.
I loved this collection. My post on Indigo.
Yvonne Vera is one of the giants of Zimbabwean literature. My post on Butterfly Burning here, and on The Stone Virgins here.
Another amazing writer, consistently excellent in her output. Kintu use one of my all-time favourite books. My post on The First Woman here.
There is hardly any need to introduce this Zimbabwean hero. Here’s a post I wrote about her for CultureAfrica in 2021, when she received the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels.
Another phenomenal writer. A link to my write-up on *Dust* here.
One of the greatest SF writers alive, she was the first writer to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel in three consecutive years, and also the first to win for all three novels in a trilogy. Her world-building is unmatched.
Another great writer. I read part of the Binti trilogy, but she has many other books.
This excellent book was one of two novels Ms Bâ wrote in French, which were both translated into many languages.
Girl, a short story, was my introduction to Ms Kincaid. This book, A Small Place, was funny and smart on post-colonialism (my post here).
A profound read, and one of my favourite novels.
This book absolutely deserved the accolades. I have her other books on my To Be Read list, too.
Pick one! Ms Adichie may be the most famous contemporary African woman writer.
This delightful book is one everyone must read!
A deeply unsettling book about the democide (Gukurahundi) in southern Zimbabwe in the early 1980s.
In addition to her novel, The Old Drift, Serpell is the author of some wonderful and sometimes experimental short stories, including The Account.
Ms Shire is a modern poet.
A wonderful addition to what is a genre on its own, Africanfuturism.
This, of course, cannot be an exhaustive list of great women writers from Africa or of African descent. Here are more writers, and the books I look forward to reading:
Oduor won the 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing for her excellent story, My Father’s Head. I look forward to her upcoming novel, out soon.
I have not read these yet (embarrassed to say), but they’ve been on my list for a long time. Golakai is a prolific and excellent short story writer, and I have enjoyed her short stories.
I read Welcome to Lagos, which was interesting and rather sad. Sankofa came out in 2021, and is on my list.
Nana Nkweti
Harare Review of Books 
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