Harare Review of Books

There are soooo many wonderful books by writers of African descent to look forward to in 2023! We know about new US releases until about August, and those are looking great.

Here’s the TL;DR. Full post with descriptions below that.

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In January, we’ve already had Deena Mohammed‘s Shubeik Lubeik, Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas, and The Finest Thief in the Kingdom by Sadeq Naihoum. Tsitsi Dangarembga‘s Black and Female got its US release on the 17th, as did Sarah Ladipo Manyika‘s Between Starshine and Clay, and Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond‘s Relations. River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer was out on the 19th. January will close out with João Melo‘s Angola is Wherever I Plant My Field, Maame by Jessica George, and Daughter in Exile by Bisi Adjapon.

February brings us a feast: Gothataone Moeng‘s Call and Response, To Write the Africa World by Achille Mbembe and Felwine Sarr, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀‘s latest–which I’m very excited for–A Spell of Good Things, Kwei Quartey‘s Last Seen in Lapaz, Black Foam by Haji Jabir, What Napoleon Could Not Do by DK Nnuro, Emmanuel Iduma‘s I Am Still With You, and, from Mauritius, Riambel by Priya Hein.

In March, look forward to Leila Aboulela‘s River Spirit, Drinking from Graveyard Wells by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Ada’s Room by Sharon Dodua Otoo, and The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter & Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer. 

In April, expect The Middle Daughter from Chika Unigwe, No Edges, an anthology of Swahili writing, Tlotlo Tsamaase‘s Womb City, and The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa by Stephen Buoro.

In May, we can look forward to reading Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu’s Lucky Girl, Azúcar by Nii Ayikwei Parkes, and The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters. House Woman by Adorah Nworah, Nightbloom from Peace Adzo Medie, and Watch Us Dance by Leïla Slimani come in June. Small Worlds, by Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of the very impressive Open Water (2021), will be published in July. August will see the publication of The Peach Seed by Anita Gail Jones, Kobby Ben Ben‘s No One Dies Yet, and Bridge, by Lauren Beukes.

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January

Shubeik Lubeik – Deena Mohamed
The story of three characters in a Cairo where wishes come true.

Ghost Season – Fatin Abbas
Set on the border between the two Sudans, this is the story of borders and conflict.

The Finest Thief in the Kingdom – Sadeq Naihoum
A collection of stories set in Libya, with themes of power and religion.

Black and Female – Tsitsi Dangarembga
An essay collection exploring race and gender.

Between Starshine and Clay – Sarah Ladipo Manyika
A collection of writing discussing the ideas of Black thinkers including Toni Morrison, Wole Soyinka, Claudia Rankine, Michelle Obama, Margaret Busby, Xoliswa Sithole, and Evan Mawarire, among others.

Relations – Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
An anthology exploring the connections between us, celebrating the diversity of Blackness.

River Sing Me Home – Eleanor Shearer
A woman journeys across the Caribbean to find her stolen children, during the time of slavery.

Angola is Wherever I Plant My Field
A story collection with themes of postcolonialism and Angolan history, set in Luanda, Haifa, America, and North Korea.

Maame – Jessica George
A coming-of-age tale about Maddie, a Ghanaian-British woman, as she navigates racism, familial duty, love, and an overbearing mother.

Daughter in Exile
Set in Senegal, this is the story of Lola, who falls for an American marine stationed at the US Embassy in Dakar.

February

Call and Response – Gothataone Moeng
A collection of stories about families in present-day Serowe and Gaborone, Botswana.

To Write the Africa World – Achille Mbembe Felwine Sarr
Texts from the proceedings of the 2016 Les Ateliers de la Pensée, a conference on the present and future of Africa.

What Napoleon Could Not Do – DK Nnuro
The story of two Ghanaian siblings and their hopes and dreams for a new life in the US.

A Spell of Good Things – Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
A Nigerian story about the privileged and those who are not.

Black Foam – Haji Jabir
The story of the migration of one man through North Africa and Israel, from an Eritrean author.

Last Seen in Lapaz – Kwei Quartey
A detective story pursuing a killer in Accra, Ghana.

I Am Still With You – Emmanuel Iduma
Iduma searches for the truth about the disappearance of his uncle during the Nigerian civil war.

Riambel – Priya Hein
From Mauritius, the story of a fifteen-year-old girl who leaves school to work for a wealthy family. An exploration of class and ethnicity.

March

Drinking from Graveyard Wells – Yvette Lisa Ndlovu
An anthology of speculative fiction stories about African women and control of their bodies.

River Spirit – Leila Aboulela
Seven men and women search for love, safety and freedom during the years leading up to British rule in Sudan.

Ada’s Room – Sharon Dodua Otoo, Jon-Cho Polizzi (tr)
The story of four women named Ada, from 15th century Ghana, through Victorian England, Buchenwald, and to modern Ghana.

The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter & Other Essential Ghosts – Soraya Palmer
A speculative fiction tale of two Jamaican-Trinidadian sisters living in the US, as they grapple with a family secret..

April

Chain Gang All Stars – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
The US for-profit prison system plus gladiators sounds like it will be amazing social commentary.

The Middle Daughter – Chika Unigwe
A story family and sisterhood, focussed on Nani, a young woman who loses her way and must find it again.

No Edges – Lusajo Mwaikenda et. al
An anthology of speculative fiction translated into English from Swahili, with sorcerers, cross-country matatus, and spaceships.

Womb City – Tlotlo Tsamaase
A speculative fiction tale from a future Botswana, with a woman whose body is controlled by her husband through a microchip.

The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa – Stephen Buoro
The coming-of-age tale of a fifteen-year old boy in northern Nigeria, with themes of race, religion, and contemporary African life.

May

Lucky Girl – Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu
Soila, a young Kenyan woman, flees her life of privilege in Kenya and must reckon with immigrant life in the New York of the 1990s.

Azúcar – Nii Ayikwei Parkes
This novel explores the various identities of Yumar, who travels from Accra to the fictional Caribbean island of Yumaz, and questions of food, music, love, ecology, and colonialism.

The Nigerwife – Vanessa Walters
A young woman, part of a group of women married to rich Nigerian men, goes missing in Lagos, and her aunt goes in search of her.

June

House Woman – Adorah Nworah
The story of an arranged marriage between Ikemefuna, a young woman from Lagos, and Nna, a self-professed feminist living in Houston.

Nightbloom – Peace Adzo Medie
The story of female friendship and estrangement, and life, class and family in Ghana.

Watch Us Dance – Leïla Slimani
The coming-of-age tale of two Moroccan-French siblings in the 1960s, with themes of liberation, idealism, and race.

July

Small Worlds – Caleb Azumah Nelson
From the author of Open Water, a novel set in London and Accra, about Stephen, a young man following his first love, music.

August

The Peach Seed – Anita Gail Jones
An epic novel about the slave trade, from 1800s Senegal to Charleston, South Carolina.

Bridge – Lauren Beukes
A thriller about alternate realities, and a daughter’s search for her mother.

Kobby Ben Ben’s No One Dies Yet
A novel of of three US visitors set in Ghana’s Year of Return (2019), setting their guides–one connected to privilege, and the other to tradition and religion–against each other.