About the Author
Rob Spillman is editor and cofounder of Tin House, a bicoastal literary magazine, executive editor of Tin House Books, and cofounder of the Tin House Literary Festival. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Rolling Stone, and Salon, among others.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Rob Spillman
Map of Africa
West Africa
Nonfiction
Chinua Achebe ♦ Nigeria
"The African Writer and the English Language"
Fiction
Helon Habila ♦ Nigeria
"Lomba"
Mohammed Naseehu Ali ♦ Ghana
"The Manhood Test"
Chris Abani ♦ Nigeria
from Becoming Abigail
E. C. Osondu ♦ Nigeria
"Voice of America"
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ♦ Nigeria
from Half of a Yelllow Sun
Francophone Africa
Nonfiction
Patrice Nganang ♦ Cameroon
"The Senghor Complex"
Fiction
Alain Mabanckou ♦Republic of Congo
from Broken Glass
Fatou Diome ♦ Senegal
from The Belly of the Atlantic
Boubacar Boris Diop ♦ Senegal
from Murambi, The Book of Bones
North Africa
Nonfiction
Laila Lalami ♦ Morocco
"The Politics of Reading"
Fiction
Nawal El Saadawi ♦ Egypt
from Woman at Point Zero
Mohamed Magani ♦ Algeria
from The Butcher's Aesthetic
Aziz Chouaki ♦ Algeria
from The Star of Algiers
Leila Aboulela ♦ Sudan
"Souvenirs"
East Africa
Nonfiction
Binyavanga Wainaina ♦ Kenya
from Discovering Home
Fiction
Ngugi wa Thiong'o ♦ Kenya
from Wizard of the Crow
Doreen Baingana ♦ Uganda
"Christianity Killed the Cat"
Nuruddin Farah ♦ Somalia
from Knots
Abdourahman A. Waberi ♦ Djibouti
from The United States of Africa
Former Portuguese Colonies
Nonfiction
Mia Couto ♦ Mozambique
"Languages We Don't Know We Know"
Fiction
Ondjaki ♦ Angola
"Dragonfly"
Jose Eduardo Agualusa ♦ Angola
from The Book of Chameleons
Southern Africa
Nonfiction
J. M. Coetzee ♦ South Africa
"The Memoirs of Breyten Breytenbach"
Fiction
Yvonne Vera ♦ Zimbabwe
"Dead Swimmers"
Niq Mhlongo ♦ South Africa
from Dog Eat Dog
Nadine Gordimer ♦ South Africa
"A Beneficiary"
Marlene van Niekerk ♦ South Africa
from Agaat
Zakes Mda ♦ South Africa
from Ways of Dying
Ivan Vladislavic ♦ South Africa
"The WHITES ONLY Bench"
Biographical Notes