Whenever you buy a book from our online store, we may make a small commission which supports our work. Visit our online store here.
Any time is a great time to celebrate African women in literature, but Women’s History Month offers a special opportunity to honour the voices and stories of those who have shaped history, culture and literature. From fiction to memoir, poetry to social critique, Black women writers have consistently captured the nuances of identity, resistance, and survival. This reading list features ten books that explore themes ranging from war and sisterhood to justice and self-discovery. Whether you’re revisiting classic works or discovering new voices, these books are essential additions to reading list this March and beyond.
Read the recommendations below.
ROSES AND BULLETS
author: AKACHI ADIMORA-EZEIGBO
Genre: fiction
The Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967-1970 is one that has seen the production of books, films, documentaries and other creative expressions. However, very few books have discussed in-depth the ways in which Biafran women were often not safe even from Biafran men that they joined to fight side by side. In Roses and Bullets, Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo documented not only the known struggles of the Biafran war, but also the uncomfortable truth that freedom for a nation very often does not mean freedom for a nation’s women.
MOM, ME AND MOM
AUTHOR: MAYA ANGELOU
GENRE: MEMOIR
Best known for her memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and her poetry, Maya Angelou was a Black American writer, actor, journalist and professor. In Mom, Me and Mom, Angelou reflects on her relationship with her mother, Vivian Baxter, presenting a narrative that documents how Black women and girls often thrive when supported by nurturing and non-judgemental mother figures.
THE BEAD COLLECTOR
AUTHOR: SEFI ATTA
GENRE: fiction
Often praised for how aptly she captures the lives of Lagosian women during the military era, Sefi Atta is a novelist and playwright. Atta’s novel, The Bead Collector, explores the connections between Lagos-based women and foreign women—whether in Nigeria for business or are married to Nigerian men. Set in Lagos of the 1980s, The Bead Collector also documents the gendered reactions to the military coups that defined that period.
Cassava Republic Press is proud to announce the launch of their inaugural $20,000 Global Black Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize dedicated to exceptional works by Black women. Deadline: 30th June 2024. Learn more here.
TROPICAL FISH: TALES FROM ENTEBBE
AUTHOR: DOREEN BAINGANA
GENRE: fiction
Set in 1980s Uganda during the time of the military dictator Idi Amin, Tropical Fish: Tales from Entebbe is a collection of short stories that follows the lives of three sisters as they come of age into adulthood. The stories explore themes of religion, the HIV/AIDS crisis that ravaged Uganda in the 1980s, economic hardship and the triumph of sisterhood in the face of identity struggles.
SOMETHING LIKE BEAUTIFUL: ONE SINGLE MOTHER’S STORY
Author: ASHA BANDELE
Genre: MEMOIR
The prison system and the injustices faced by African-American men and women have long been subjects of debate and social movements. From #SayHerName to #BlackLivesMatter, the past ten years has seen a surge in movements decrying police brutality affecting Black communities.
In Something Like Beautiful, Asha Bandele explores a sensitive topic: the lives of women who have been romantically involved with incarcerated men and the impact on their children. It is a memoir that is both haunting and moving in its portrayal of the ordinary.
THE TERRIBLE
AUTHOR: YRSA DALEY-WARD
GENRE: MEMOIR
Born in England to a Nigerian father and Jamaican mother, Yrsa Daley-Ward is a poet, writer and model. Her memoir, The Terrible, has been described as one that cannot be fit into neat boxes. It is written both in prose, poetry and with dialogue that is reminiscent of a stage play.
The Terrible explores themes like sexuality, religion, grooming, addiction, grief and what it means to be Black British and a woman in a country that very often sidelines the voices of Black people and women.
DOUBLE YOKE
AUTHOR: BUCHI EMECHETA
GENRE: fiction
In 2023, news reports covered the protests by female law students at the University of Calabar against the sexual harassment they had encountered. Interesting, in 1982, Buchi Emecheta—renowned for Second Class Citizen and The Joys of Motherhood—published Double Yoke, a novel set at the same university. The novel explores themes of campus sexual harassment and sex-for-grades, echoing the very issues the students were protesting decades later. Double Yoke can be seen as a prophetic predecessor to Kiki Mordi’s 2019 Sex For Grades documentary, which exposed similar injustices.
MAAME
AUTHOR: JESSICA GEORGE
GENRE: fiction
In recent years, there has been an upsurge in discourse about the way first daughters are often burdened with the responsibility of care in African households. In her debut novel, Maame, Jessica George captures this reality. Covering themes like dysfunctional families, arranged marriages and the disproportionate responsibilities of first daughters, the novel serves as a tribute to women who bear the duties of a first son without the privileges.
THE WOMAN IS NO MESSIAH
EDITOR: aNGEL NDUKA-NWOSU
GENRE: POETRY
Published by Isele Magazine in August 2023, The Woman Is No Messiah is a poetry collection edited by Angel Nduka-Nwosu, featuring the poetry of 28 Nigerian women. It seeks to answer why women often undertake the back breaking work in social justice movements and other spaces yet rarely receive documentation or recognition. Contributors include Ibi Mfoniso Kontein, playwright of Back for Ground, and Bunmi Onanaye, the poet behind the poetry album, In Honour of The Broken.
GRIEF’S FIRST KISS IS AN AVALANCE
AUTHOR: WENDY OKEKE
GENRE: PoETRY
Although African literature is not lacking literary expressions of grief, it is not often that one gets an entire poetry collection dedicated to exploring the ways in which African women in Igbo societies grapple with loss. Published in 2025 by Wendy Okeke, a poet who has been recognized by the BBC, Grief’s First Kiss Is An Avalanche, is a love letter to the women who face loss and yet continue to show up and document their pain in communities where mental health is often not spoken about. It can be read as a poetic continuation to works like Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Adichie and Better Never Than Late by Chika Unigwe⎈