Top 100 African books of the 20th century

[beer good]

I found this list and thought it might be interesting. The list was compiled by a number of academics and others from a total of 1,521 nominations, and announced in 2002.

Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century

The list is not ranked, except for the top 12:

1. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Chinua ACHEBE - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Things Fall Apart [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Nigeria, 1958)[/FONT]
2. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Meshack ASARE - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Sosu's Call [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Ghana[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica], 1997)[/FONT]
3. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Mariama BÂ - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]So Long A Letter [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Senegal[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica], 1980)[/FONT]
4. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Mia COUTO - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Terra Sonambula [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Mozambique[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica], 1992)[/FONT]
5. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Tsitsi DANGAREMBGA - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Nervous Conditions [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Zimbabwe[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica], 1988)[/FONT]
6. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Cheikh Anta DIOP - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Antériorité Des Civilisations Nègres [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Senegal[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica], [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]1967)[/FONT]
7. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Assia DJEBAR - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]L'Amour La Fantasia [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Algeria,[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]1985)[/FONT]
8. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Naguib MAHFOUZ - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]The Cairo Trilogy [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Egypt,[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]1956)[/FONT]
9. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Thomas Mokopu MOFOLO - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Chaka [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Lesotho,[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica] 1925)[/FONT]
10. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]NGUGI wa Thiong'o - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]A Grain Of Wheat [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Kenya,[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica] 1967)[/FONT]
11. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Léopold Sédar SENGHOR - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Oeuvre Poétique [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Senegal,[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica] 1990)[/FONT]
12. [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Wole SOYINKA - [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica]Ake: The Years of Childhood [/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica](Nigeria,[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, geneva, helvetica] 1981)[/FONT]

 

[Peder]

Nice list BG. Insular that I am, I haven't read any, and the ones I do have must be on some other list. But zero from this list is a low enough bar that many must be able to claim better.

 

[Wells83]

Of the top 12, I've read Things Fall Apart and So Long a Letter, both of which are phenomenal.

 

[saliotthomas]

I read Mother of spring-Driss Chraibi from Morocco and much prefered it to Tahar ben Jelloun.Things fall apart is a great book indeed.I like to add Yasmina Kadra-the attack from Algeria,a great writer.
Léopold Sédar Senghor ,whom i did not read, was a delight to all French speaker when iterviewed for his high mastery of the language.A master.

 

[savvyambrose]

Excellent list! One of my favorite books is Things Fall Apart. I recently read Nervous Conditions for a class on Coming of Age novels and I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I find the language style a bit dense at times. I'll have to check out the other titles.

 

[abecedarian]

Interesting list indeed. I see a few familiar names and titles: Things Fall Apart, So Long a Letter, A Grain of Wheat..farther down on the list, I see one of my personal favorites-The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta. It would help if I read French, as I see familiar authors with titles I may or may not have actually read..such as Camera Laye and Moses Isegawa..I read the Dark Child and Abyssinian Chronicals..the titles listed looks pretty darned close.I also read I read different titles by Assia Djebar,Mia Cuoto, Naguib Mahfouz, Salih Tayyib,Sony Labou Tansi, Pepetela, and Ferdinand Oyono. I'm surprised to see From a Crooked Rib by Nuruddin Farah(Sudan) excluded from this list.

 

[Libra]

Chinua ACHEBE - Things Fall Apart (Nigeria, 1958)
Mariama BÂ - So Long A Letter (Senegal, 1980)
Assia DJEBAR - L'Amour La Fantasia (Algeria, 1985)
NGUGI wa Thiong'o - A Grain Of Wheat (Kenya, 1967)
Wole SOYINKA - Ake: The Years of Childhood (Nigeria, 1981)

I bought these after they were suggested,but I have only read the highlighted one so far.