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From a celebrated Nigerian novel produced by Netflix to a classic pre-apartheid South African novel starring renowned American actor James Earl Jones, the books on this list prove that African novels can make for intriguing movies too!
Jun 15, 2025
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We often talk about the importance of seeing some of our favourite African novels come alive on the screen. Some of these novels have indeed been adapted into popular movies in recent years, such as Ẹlẹṣin Ọba: The King’s Horseman (directed by Nigerian filmmaker Biyi Bandele) and Beasts of No Nation (directed by American filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga). But there are others which have been less popularly adapted to the screen.
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of five books your probably didn’t know were made into movies. From a celebrated Nigerian novel produced by Netflix to a classic pre-apartheid South African novel starring renowned American actor James Earl Jones, the books on this list prove that African novels can make for intriguing movies too!
Read our recommendations below.
In 2021, renowned Nigerian filmmaker Kunle Afolayan released his film adaptation of Nigerian author Sefi Atta’s novel Swallow. Produced by Netflix with a screenplay co-written by Atta herself, the film stars popular actors Nollywood actors such as Chioma Chukwuka Akpotha and Deyemi Okanlawon, with singer and songwriter Niyola in the lead role.
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