Reading literature from the farthest shores of the West is always an adventure full of obstacles, but one worth undertaking. The big publishers bombard the reader with proposals, mostly from European or American authors, giants in sales and in making people believe that the West is the center of the world. However, a group of irreducible publishers, small and independent (for the most part), strives to offer their audiences different voices and realities from other continents. It is not an easy task, because the distribution and advertising channels are taken over by very powerful publishing groups. Despite this, they manage, through alternative media, to bring their proposals to a limited audience. These other literatures have the virtue of opening the minds of those who immerse themselves in the pages of their books to different realities and points of view. And they invite you to dream, to travel and to meet human beings who in other parts of the world face similar problems, with answers not very different from those that the reader would give.
Here are nine novels by writers born in Africa and eight essays that help to better understand some countries or problems of this vast continent. An opportunity to open your mind and heart and let yourself be questioned by the hundreds of voices that come from far beyond the borders that corset the dominant culture.
novels
The secret life of the wives of Baba Segi, by Lola Shoneyin (Books of Bad Companies, 2022. Translation from English by Federico Vivanco). In this novel, the Nigerian writer and cultural promoter makes a case against patriarchy and machismo through the life of a polygamous family. With much irony and detail, she describes the daily lives of Baba Segi’s four wives and his children. At the same time, she vindicates the education of women as the only way to escape from the destiny to which society and tradition submit them.
The large publishers bombard the reader with proposals, mostly from European or American authors, giants in sales and in making people believe that the West is the center of the world.
Our enchanted abyss, by Yamen Manai (Txalaparta, 2023; translated from French by Sandra Buenaventura). A 15-year-old boy, a victim of family and social violence, and his dog serve as a pretext for the author to delve into present-day Tunisia. A country crossed by structural violence, hierarchy and corruption, where young people are crowded into the neighborhoods. The authorities ask to sacrifice the animal, so that the rage does not spread and, deep down, so that the dissatisfaction of the youth does not turn against them.
What killed the young Abdoulaye Cissé?, by Donato Ndongo (Sequitur Editions, 2023). After a few years of silence comes a new novel by the Equatoguinean writer, whose legacy is guarded in the Box of Letters of the Cervantes Institute. In this novel, Ndongo returns to address the issue of migration and racism in Spain. A young Malian man who arrives fleeing the crisis in his country with the intention of continuing his studies finds it impossible to fulfill his dream. He then decides to return, but for this he needs any job that allows him to get some money. As he walks through the center of Madrid towards an employment agency he collapses. What did he kill him?
The Maquis, by Hemley Boum (Baile del Sol / Casa África, 2022. Translation from French by Pilar Altinier). A historical novel that recounts the involvement of the people bassa in the struggle for the independence of Cameroon. And the efforts of the settlers to continue to control the country through puppet governments. Several characters, some real and others fictitious, give rise to a plot, full of intrigue, sacrifices, love and with soap opera overtones, which questions the official history, both that of the colonizers and that of the leaders who assumed power after the march of those
Neighbors, by Lília Momplé (Books of Bad Company, 2022. Translation from the Portuguese by Alejandro de los Santos Pérez). The title of this work can lead to the confusion that it is written in English, but it is not like that, it has an excellent translation into Spanish. Momplé narrates a long night in May through the lives of four women in a Maputo neighborhood and some assassins from abroad. In the background, the Cold War, apartheid and the dirty tricks so that the newly independent African countries cannot go their own way. A story based on true events with overtones of a thriller that keeps the tension until the last moment.
The promise, by Damon Galgut (Asteroid Books, 2022. English translation by Celia Filipetto). The South African author never disappoints. Nor in this novel, in which through four funerals, he tells the story of a white family, the Swarts, who live on the outskirts of Pretoria. Through a promise made to the black servant. The narration, as if it were a movie camera, gives voice to the different members of the saga, while unfolding the events of recent South African history.
Look at us dance by Leila Slimani (Cabaret Voltaire 2023. Translation from French by Malika Embarek López). Amin is proud to have become, after much effort, a member of the new Moroccan bourgeoisie. Her wife Mathilde, on the other hand, thinks that she has wasted the best years of her life during the war and then taking care of the house and her children. This is the excuse that Slimani uses to dive into the first years of an independent Morocco that was looking for its own identity by moving between tradition and the mirage of Western modernity.
The winter of the goldfinches, by Mohamed El Morabet (Gutenberg Galaxy, 2022). The look of an innocent child who only knows Al Hoceima describes the daily life of his city and the life of his people. He later moves to Tetouan to study and there he meets Olga. It is the other look of the book, that of the woman who leaves Madrid behind and wants to create a new home in North Africa. Two ways of looking at and understanding the world that intersect. A novel full of sensations, smells and colors.
fox footprint, by Moussa Konaté (Books of Bad Companies, 2023. Translation from French by Alejandro de los Santos Pérez). Noir novel at its best. Commissioner Habib and his assistant Sosso must leave the comforts of Bamako and move to the Dogon country, where a series of corpses have appeared. The Dogon are known for living outside the State and for the strength of their magic. In the background, the eternal question of how to integrate tradition and modernity.
essays
The moon is in Duala and my destiny in knowledge, by Sani Ladan (Plaza and Janés, 2023). A book that does not stop at the migratory process of the young Cameroonian who leaves his hometown and his family to study. If not, it delves into the personal and spiritual growth of the author. And that describes the awareness that has led him to be one of the main leaders in the fight against racism and in defense of migrants in Spain.
Don’t touch my hair. Origin and history of afro hair, by Emma Dabiri (Captain Swing, 2023. English translation by Esther Cruz Sataella). Black hair is never just hair. The author explores how Afro hair can be considered a model of decolonization. A journey from pre-colonial Africa to the present day, going through the different movements that have claimed black power.
South of Tangier. A trip to the cultures of Morocco, by Gonzalo Fernández Parrilla (The Line of the Horizon, 2022). The Spaniards are only capable of seeing Morocco through the clichés and prejudices that have been nurtured for generations. But Fernández Parrilla shows the cultural and social wealth of the Alaouite kingdom. This book is debated between the essay, memory and fiction, to offer the reader numerous points of view that help him to investigate and get to know the neighboring country better.
Seasons, by Tarek Eltayed (Oriental and Mediterranean Editions, 2022). A very original autobiography that immerses the reader in the Cairo of the author’s childhood and youth: its neighborhoods, its people, its dreams, and the discovery of reading. And then, in exile, the value of this so as not to lose one’s own roots.
The last days of wild Africa, by Amador Guallar (Diëresis Publishing House, 2023). Africa’s wildlife is disappearing by leaps and bounds due to human action and climate change. Guallar, journalist, photographer and writer, travels to the most remote corners of the continent to tell from the ground what is happening with endangered animals.
Armed groups in the Sahel, by Beatriz Mesa (Waterfall / Casa África, 2022). It is possible to analyze such a complex topic and make it interesting for the reader. In this work, Mesa delves into what is happening in the Sahel and how the armed groups that operate there are moved not so much by political or religious ideology, but by the desire to control the criminal economy (drug trafficking, people, smuggling…) . Money continues to move the world.
Ethiopian History, by Mario Lozano Alonso (Waterfall / Casa África, 2022). Centuries of history brilliantly summarized in a few pages. A work full of surprises that brings the reader closer to a very unknown country and that dismantles many of the myths that are held about African nations.
Somali history, by Pablo Arconada Ledesma (Waterfall / Casa África, 2023). We only know of Somalia that it has been at war for years. But this country has a rich history. Arconada covers it from prehistory to the present and gives the keys to understand why the current conflict has arisen.
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