While readers may find it challenging to discover African authors whose stories are not heavily inspired by difficult realities, African literature is a lot more diverse, and ‘easier’ than often assumed.
Why do you read? I, for one, do not read for just one reason. Beyond reading for academic or professional reasons, I read because I want to relax, laugh, or learn more about an event or a group of people. The best part about reading African literature is that it opens me to diverse themes and stories from authors across the continent and the African diaspora.
However, many readers find it challenging to discover African authors whose stories are not heavily inspired by Africa’s difficult or traumatic realities. The difficult realities that seem to pervade African literature could range from Africa’s colonial past, as seen in Homegoing (2016) by Yaa Gyasi and Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua Achebe; to the harsh realities of African women, as seen in Ogadinma (2020) by Ukamaka Olisakwe, A Woman in Her Prime (1967) by Asare Konadu, and Second Class Citizen (1974) by Buchi Emecheta...
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