Mema begins with the narrator remembering: “My mother was a strong woman. I remember her. I remember everything. I remember her words, her story, her life, her pains, her tribulations and joys. I remember everything as if it happened yesterday.” From the start this shows that a mother has a
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Serowe: Village of Rain by Bessie Head
Bessie Head is a well-known author in Botswana. She was born in South Africa, but moved to Botswana with her son. She loved the culture when she arrived there. Village of Rain is about Serowe. This is the capital of the Bamangwato people in Botswana. She finds it interesting because
A Cowrie of Hope by Binwell Sinyangwe
A Cowrie of Hope is about a mother and her daughter in rural Zambia. At one point a character asks “Is everyone in the city not talking about wanting to leave the towns and come back to the village, thinking life is more endurable here in the rural areas?” There
A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
Ngugi wa Thiong’o is an author writing in Kenya. He used to write in English, but now writes only in his native Gikuyu language because he is proud of his own country, language and culture. In 1986 he wrote an essay called ‘Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in
Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou
“It would be fairer to say I have travelled widely, without ever leaving my own native soil, I’ve travelled, one might say, through literature, each time I’ve opened a book the pages echoed with a noise like the dip of a paddle in midstream, and throughout my odyssey I never
Smouldering Charcoal by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza is a talented historian. He spent his childhood in Zimbabwe and Malawi, and gained his first degree from the University of Malawi. Though he has held many positions in America, his focus has always been on Africa; in 2009 he was named President of the African Studies
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer. She was born in the city of Enugu and studied at the University of Nigeria. Afterwards she studied in America. Many of her books are about Nigeria and Nigerian people because she is proud of her Nigerian heritage and culture. Purple Hibiscus is
African stories: “Every Man is a Race” by Mia Couto
Mia Couto is an author in Mozambique. He has lived there his whole life and lived through the FREMILO war against the Portuguese which led to an independent Mozambique. His stories are usually about African identities. This book will study some of them. ‘THE PRIVATE APOCALYPSE OF UNCLE GEGUE’ “A
From a Crooked Rib by Nuruddin Farah
FROM A CROOKED RIB BY NURUDDIN FARAH The title of From a Crooked Rib comes from a traditional Somalian proverb. It goes: “God created Woman from a crooked rib; and anyone who trieth to straighten it, breaketh it.” This means that women and men are different, and men should not