International Women’s Day is a day earmarked to ensuring gender equality globally. There is probably no better way to celebrate it than to celebrate some of our female African writers.
In the spirit of celebrating outstanding women all over the world, TCN Literati compiled this list of female writers whose works are critically acclaimed. So the next time you go book-shopping, you might want to be on the lookout for their works.
In no particular order, here are some of the women you should be reading.
Aminatta Forna
Sierra-Leonean born Scottish, Aminatta Forna is an academic and the award-winning author of four novels – Ancestor Stones (2006), The Memory of Love (2010), The Hired Man (2013), Happiness (2018) – and a Memoir, The Devil That Danced on Water (2003). Her works employ multiple voices and shifting timelines.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, Chimamanda Adichie is a Nigerian novelist whose works ranges from novels, short stories to non-fiction. She is the author of Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), The Thing Around Your Neck (2009), Americanah (2013), We Should All Be Feminists (2014) and A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017).
Leila Aboulela
Sudanese writer, Leila Aboulela works cuts across short stories and fictions. She is the author of The Translator (1999), Coloured Lights (2001), Minaret (2005), Lyrics Alley (2011), The Kindness of Enemies (2015), Elsewhere, Home (2018) and Bird Summons (2019). She won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2000 for her short story, The Museum.
Maaza Mengiste
Ethiopian-American Novelist, essayist and academic, Maaza Mengiste has published fiction and non-fiction dealing with migration, the Ethiopian revolution and the plight of African immigrants arriving in Europe. She is the author of 19 published essays and three novels – Beneath the Lion’s Gaze (2010), The Shadow King (2019) and Addis Ababa Noir (2020).
Sefi Atta
Nigerian writer, Sefi Atta is a recepient of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature and the 2009 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. She has written a handful of stage plays, screenplays, radio plays and children books. Notable amongst her works are Everything Good Will Come (2005), Swallow (2010), News from Home (2010), A Bit of Difference (2013) and Sefi Atta: Selected Plays (2019).
