Book picks similar to
Naija Stories: Of Tears and Kisses, Heroes and Villains (Best Of, #1) by Myne WhitmanSeun Odukoya
short-stories
african
african-lit
knowledge-about-life
Lake Wobegon U.S.A.
Garrison Keillor - 1993
is the eagerly anticipated successor to News From Lake Wobegon (one of the bestselling spoken-word audio ever) and More News From Lake Wobegon. This collection contains 17 touching, exquisitely funny monologues from Garrison Keillor recorded during American Radio Company broadcasts from tour stops all over the country. The tales, says Keillor, are about "the luxury of rhubarb pie, the perils of prophecy, Florian and Myrtle's thrifty vacation, the vapor lights of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility. . . ." They are also about joy, grief, dreams, luck, and mysteries—about the extraordinary moments of wonder that illuminate our ordinary lives. Contents:Fertility: The Kresbach's Vacation; Prophet; The Six Labors of Father Wilmer; FertilityPatience: Aunt Ellie; Duke's 25th; Jobhunting; You're Not the Only OneYouth: Blue Devils; Nostalgia; O Christmas Tree; Pageant; Messy ShoesRhubarb: Rhubarb; Sweet Corn; The Sun's Gonna Shine Someday; Yellow Ribbon
Only When the Sun Shines Brightly
Magnus Mills - 1999
The wind tries first, but however hard it blows it fails to make any progress because the traveller simply buttons his coat even tighter than before. Only when the sun shines brightly does he finally remove it, and the wind roars away in a bad temper.
I Built No Schools in Kenya: A Year of Unmitigated Madness
Kirsten Drysdale - 2019
Her friend called with a job offer too curious to refuse: a cruisey-gig as a dementia carer for a rich old man in Kenya. All expenses-paid, plenty of free time to travel or do some freelance reporting. There seemed no good reason to say no... so she got on a plane.Only Kirsten's friend hadn't given her the full story. It was only on arrival in Nairobi that she discovered the rich old man's family was fighting a war around him, and that she would be on the frontline. Caught in the crossfire of all kinds of wild accusations, she also had to spy on his wife, keep his daughter placated, rebuff his marriage proposals, hide the car keys and clip his toenails all while trying to retain her own sanity in the colonial time warp of his home.Meanwhile, the Kenyan army was invading Somalia, Al-Shabaab was threatening terror attacks, the East African bodybuilding scene beckoned, and Kirsten discovered she had long-lost cousins running a bar on the other side of the city.I Built No Schools in Kenya is a travelogue-tragedy-farce about race, wealth, love, death, family, nationhood, sanity, benzodiazepines, monkeys and whisky.It is almost entirely true.
A Blood Condition
Kayo Chingonyi - 2021
S. ELIOT PRIZE**SHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION*The moving, expansive, and dazzling second collection from award-winning poet Kayo ChingonyiKayo Chingonyi's remarkable second collection follows the course of a 'blood condition' as it finds its way to deeply personal grounds. From the banks of the Zambezi river to London and Leeds, these poems speak to how distance and time, nations and history, can collapse within a body.With astonishing lyricism and musicality, this is a story of multiple inheritances -- of grief and survival, renewal and the painful process of letting go -- and a hymn to the people and places that run in our blood.
Mating Birds
Lewis Nkosi - 1986
It is the heyday of apartheid. Although not a word is exchanged, a strong erotic bond develops between the two of them, culminating in what is later seen as a rape and for which the narrator gets the death sentence. In an absolute tour de force the narrator, only ever referred to as Mr Sibiya, waiting to be executed, writes down his story - reconstructing bit by bit not only his own and a brief history of his family, but also his obsession with the white girl, the court proceedings, and his encounters with Dr Dufre, a Swiss criminologist who has been granted permission of compile a dossier of the case. One of the most remarkable things about the novel is the narrator's ability to be objective, to view himself and the series of events almost dispassionately.
In the Blue Light of African Dreams
Paul Watkins - 1990
Disfigured and demoralized, he deserts from France's famed Lafayette Escadrille, only to be captured, convicted, and sentenced to twenty years in the Foreigh Legion. He serves in Africa, where, along with a motley group of convicts and outcasts, Halifax is forced to fly illegal arms shipments to the very tribesmen they have been sent to fight. But a dream keeps Halifax alive even as his companions fall to harm or misery-the relentless determination to become the first pilot to fly nonstop from Paris to New York.
Amish Fate
Katie Lantz - 2019
There is something very familiar about Simon that brings Eleanor great peace, and Simon feels the same way. But when Eleanor's boyfriend, Abe, sees her talking to Simon, his jealousy is unleashed, and he warns her to stay away from Simon. Eleanor refuses, planning to break up with Abe - until an emergency changes her plan. But Eleanor cannot stop thinking about Simon and is shocked when he reveals a secret about their childhood years. Torn between Abe and Simon, Eleanor prays to Gott for an answer. Should she leave the possessive Abe and run to Simon?
Molora
Yael Farber - 2008
But unlike the original, Farber breaks the cycle of violence, reflecting South Africa’s own transformation in the 1990s.
Double Yoke
Buchi Emecheta - 1982
While Nko pursues an education despite the resistance of those who feel a woman's identity is assumed in traditional marriage, Ete Kamba's love for her is severely tested as he is himself locked into the rigid attitudes from which Nko is attempting to break free. Nko must further contend with unscrupulous professors who would take advantage of her tenuous role as a woman in a male-dominated environment. As the author candidly portrays the status of women in emerging African nations, the choices facing Ete Kamba and Nko are neither clearcut nor perfect. In Double Yoke, Buchi Emecheta faces them head on.
Stay Out of the Woods: Strange Encounters, Volume 3
Tom Lyons - 2021
Corsican Gold: An Archaeological Thriller (A Darwin Lacroix Adventure)
Dave Bartell - 2021
soft magic.
Upile Chisala - 2015
is the debut collection of prose and poetry by Malawian writer, Upile Chisala. This book explores the self, joy, blackness, gender, matters of the heart, the experience of Diaspora, spirituality and most of all, how we survive. soft magic. is a shared healing journey.
The Book of Echoes
Rosanna Amaka - 2020
The Book of Echoes is filled with beauty, devastation and the power of ancestral connections that ripple through the ages' IRENOSEN OKOJIE'So bewitching I almost felt like I time-travelled back into Brixton 1981. A gorgeous book – totally recommended.' ALEX WHEATLE
A sweeping, uplifting story of how a boy from Brixton and a girl from Lagos escape their dark past to find themselves a bright future.
1981: England looks forward to a new decade. But on the streets of Brixton, it’s hard to hold onto your dreams, especially if you are a young black man. Racial tensions rumble, and now Michael Watson might land in jail for a crime he did not commit.Thousands of miles away, village girl Ngozi abandons her orange stall for the chance to work as a maid. Alone in a big city, Ngozi’s fortunes turn dark and soon both her heart and hopes are shattered.From dusty roads to gritty pavements, Ngozi and Michael’s journey towards a better life is strewn with heartache and injustice. When they finally collide, their lives will be transformed for ever.With irresistible joy and grace, Rosanna Amaka writes of people moving between worlds, and asks how we can heal and help each other. Humming with beauty and horror, tragedy and triumph, THE BOOK OF ECHOES is a powerful debut from an authentic new voice in British fiction.
Tropical Fish: Tales from Entebbe
Doreen Baingana - 2005
Set mostly in pastoral Entebbe with stops in the cities Kampala and Los Angeles, Tropical Fish depicts the reality of life for Christine Mugisha and her family after Idi Amin's dictatorship.Three of the eight chapters are told from the point of view of Christine's two older sisters, Patti, a born-again Christian who finds herself starving at her boarding school, and Rosa, a free spirit who tries to "magically" seduce one of her teachers. But the star of Tropical Fish is Christine, whom we accompany from her first wobbly steps in high heels, to her encounters with the first-world conveniences and alienation of America, to her return home to Uganda.As the Mugishas cope with Uganda's collapsing infrastructure, they also contend with the universal themes of family cohesion, sex and relationships, disease, betrayal, and spirituality. Anyone dipping into Baingana's incandescent, widely acclaimed novel will enjoy their immersion in the world of this talented newcomer.*Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in the Africa region*Winner of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Award Series in Short Fiction*Winner of the Washington Writing Prize for Short Fiction *Finalist for the Caine Prize in African Writing