Abdellah Taïa in Tangier, Morocco, in 2010.
Abdelhak Senna/AFP via Getty Images
His books bring north Africa into conversation with sub-Saharan Africa about lived queer experiences.
Detail of an illustration of Theodosia Okoh, who designed Ghana’s flag.
Illustrations by Denyse Gawu-Mensah/Black and Bold Queens
Women who shaped modern Ghana have been erased from history. A children’s book aims to restore them to their rightful place.
Detail from the cover of the children’s book Kayo’s House by Ugandan author Barbara Kimenye.
Macmillan/Mactracks Series
At independence, adults were reading decolonial classics - but children were reading Enid Blyton. A generation of unsung women writers changed that.
Detail from the cover of an edition of Amma Darko’s novel Faceless.
Sub-Saharan Publishers
A psychologist and a literary scholar analyse Faceless, a powerful novel about homeless children - and their mothers.
Noni Jabavu at her London office, 12th September 1961.
Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
These columns demonstrate that Noni Jabavu’s concerns from 1970s are still relevant today.
Khadija Farah/Getty Images
These vibrant writers embrace the open road and claim spaces that were denied them during apartheid.
Regina Twala in a rare photograph with her first husband Percy Kumalo, 1936.
Courtesy Ohio University Press
A powerful new book restores the writer and feminist politician to her rightful place in history.
Famed director Ousmane Sembène (centre, with trademark pipe) and a group of extras on set.
Michel Renaudeau/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Born 100 years ago this year, Africa’s most legendary filmmaker - and a prolific novelist -remains relevant through his beautifully crafted political works.
Randi Linford/EyeEm/Getty Images
Challenging myths about heterosexual white South African men, Prinsloo published four books of short stories in 12 years.
Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame Said, known as Hadraawi, in 2013.
Screengrab/YouTube
Poet, soldier and critic of postcolonial elites, Hadraawi was the greatest poet of his generation.
Noviolet Bulawayo, Zimbabwean writer.
Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images
Playing out in an animal kingdom, Glory is a devastating political commentary on Zimbabwe today.
Don Mattera in 2013.
Lerato Maduna/Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images
A true African poet, Don Mattera was at the centre of public life, an advocate for change and an enemy of elitism.
Ndabaningi Sithole, July 1977.
Central Press/Getty Images
Despite being almost erased from history, Sithole’s ideas are still relevant today.
Image by carloscastilla/iStock / Getty Images Plus
Buys, the award-winning novel by Willem Anker, uses lines without credit from the Irish writer - not the first such literary controversy it has raised.
Antjie Krog from a detail of the cover for the book ‘n Vry vrou (a free woman).
Human & Rousseau
The famous writer turns 70 this year. She is driven by how South Africans see and hear one another.
K. Sello Duiker.
Photo courtesy Kwela Books
His major work The Quiet Violence of Dreams is about a young man undergoing a mental breakdown, something that the novelist also experienced.
Ama Ata Aidoo.
Wikimedia Commons
Ama Ata Aidoo recognises the differences between humans and the existence of a history in which some humans are dehumanised.
Wole Soyinka in 2017.
THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images
The new novel by Nigerian icon Wole Soyinka is at once satire, political thriller and tragedy. It is the work of a great writer that marks the destruction of postcolonial reason.
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr on a TV show after winning the Prix Goncourt.
Photo by Eric Fougere/Corbis via Getty Images
He is the first writer from sub-Saharan Africa to lift the Prix Goncourt, one of the book world’s most important prizes. And his win matters.
Abdulrazak Gurnah captivatingly draws readers into the experiences and vivid lifeworlds of his characters
Getty Images
Abdulrazak Gurnah’s stories suggest that it is important to see others in relation to ourselves, to perceive their right of abode even if they cannot claim national belonging.