Our Favourite Books of 2023

In 2023, the African literary landscape witnessed the release of intriguing and insightful works that have garnered well-deserved recognition. For instance, Nigerian writer and the author of the acclaimed debut novel,Stay With Me, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, unveiled her second novel,A Spell of Good Things. This novel delves into the socio-economic polarities and political corruption in Nigeria, earning a deserved longlist spot in the 2023 Booker Prize.

Also, D.K Nnuro’s debut novel,What Napoleon Could Not Do, was shortlisted for the 2023 New American Voices Award and long listed for the Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize. The literary scene also saw the return of the award-winning Sudanese novelist, Leila Aboulela, whose latest book, River Spirit, explores the trials of a beleaguered young woman’s coming of age during the Mahdist War in 19th-century Sudan. As of November 2023, Jessica George’s debut book, Maame, had surpassed 125,000 copies in sales in the United States and the United Kingdom. The book also garnered deserved nominations at the Goodreads Award.

It is clear that 2023 has been an interesting year for African literature. As we continue to dive into these books, here are our favourite books this year.

The new novel from Caine Prize winner, Leila Aboulela, follows the life of an embattled young woman’s coming of age during the Mahdist War in 19th century Sudan. Through the voices of seven men and women whose fates grow inextricably linked, Aboulela’s latest novel illuminates a fraught and bloody reckoning with the history of a people caught in the crosshairs of imperialism. River Spirit is a powerful tale of corruption, coming of age, and unshakeable devotion to a cause, to one’s faith, and to the people who become family.

From the author of the critically acclaimed debut novel,StayWithMe,Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s2023 novel further cements her place as one of the outstanding voices of Nigerian literature. Her second novel,A Spell of Good Things, is a captivating tale of two families trapped in the riptides of riches, power, and political corruption in contemporary Nigeria. The novel presents a true Nigerian voice through its portrayal of socio-economic issues such as unemployment, and everyday events such as morning conversations at newspaper stands. In this novel, we follow the lives of Eniola and Wuraola, both fromdifferent backgrounds. When a local politician takes interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party, Wuraola and Eniola’s lives become intertwined.

This book is a curation of insightful and engaging narrations aimed at freeing women from the margins of Nigeria’s history. It chronicles their protest movements against colonial administrations, including ‘monster’ petitions on taxation and food price controls. It details a string of remarkable political landmarks which highlight women’s historical credentials as nationalists, as well as their voice in early male-dominated legislative institutions. It also narrates more contemporary episodes in women’s resistance against oil exploitation, environmental pollution and anger over the mass abduction of school girls. Thistimelypreservation of the voice and agency of Nigerian women from a wide variety of colonial and contemporary documents willbenefitreaders interested in African history and gender and women’s studies.

2019. The Year of the Return. It has been exactly 400 years since thefirst slave ships left Ghana for America, and Ghana has opened its doors for Blackdiasporansto come to know the land of their ancestors. Elton, Vincent, and Scott arrive from America to visit preserved sites from the transatlantic slave route, and to explore the country’s underground queer scene. Their activities are narrated by their two combative guides; Kobby, their liaison with Accra’s privileged circles; and Nana, the voice of tradition and religious principle. The two’s tense relationship set the tone for what becomes a shocking and unsettling tale of murder that is at times funny or erotic, but always outspoken and iconoclastic.

In Stephen Buoro’s debut novel, fifteen-year-old Andrew Aziza lives in Kontagora, Nigeria, where he grapples with his fantasies about white girls—especially blondes—and wonders who his father is. Andrew obsesses over mathematical theorems, ideas of black power and HXVX: the Curse of Africa. Andrew, nicknamed ‘Andy Africa’, falls hopelessly and inappropriately in love with the first white girl he lays eyes on, Eileen. But at the church party held to celebrate her arrival, multiple crises loom. An unfamiliar man claims, despite his mother’s denials, to be Andy’s father, and the gathering of an anti-Christian mob is headed for the church, both set to shake the foundations of everything Andy knows and loves. According to book reviewer, Kenechukwu Nwokedi, ‘the novel aims to highlight the complexities of living in a country like Nigeria through the perspective of a malleable teenager full of promise and, I think, it shoots to kill.’

In this Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ’s debut novel, two girls must reckon with their burgeoning wildness and the legacy of their fathers’ decisions. Treasure and Ozoemena will face terrible choices as each must ask herself: in a world that always says ‘no’ to women, what must two young girls sacrifice to get what is theirs? Dazzling is steeped in magical realism and Nigerian mythology.