Are you in need of some brilliant and intelligent books by African women? Here are some very good books that shows diversity and wonders of African literature. Although this list is mainly filled with novels, there is also non-fiction and poetry.
1. David’s Story by Zoe Wicomb
Unfolding in South Africa, at the moment of Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1991, this novel explores the life and vision of a male activist David Dirkse, through the pen of a female narrator. This book provides compelling history that is vividly personal, through the powerful filter of storytelling. Through voices that weave together and sometimes contradicting one another, Wicomb depicts a world where 'truth upon conflicting truth wriggles into shape'. The dramatic and violent turns at the close of the novel further testify to the complexity of truth -- and of telling.
2.Men of the South by Zukiswa Wanner
Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2011: Africa Region, Men of the South is a fascinating novel about three men out from three worlds. Mfundo the musician and father, Mzi - gay, but married, and Tinaye - a displaced Zimbabwean in South Africa.
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3. Teaching my Mother How to Give Birth by Warsan Shire
This poetry strikes at the heart directly, "I have my mother's mouth and my father's eyes..." that line hit me like a ton of bricks. I love poetry that is plain. That is not left up to interpretation. There is no confusion about what she was trying to say. She masters "show don't tell".
The poet attempt to protect the languages and cultures of her ancestors and elders would make you hungry for the knowledge of your history and ancestors.
4. Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa
Noo Saro-Wiwa was brought up in England, but every summer she was dragged back to Nigeria - a country she viewed as an annoying parallel universe where she had to relinquish all her creature comforts. Then her father, activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, was murdered there, and she didn't return for 10 years.
Looking for Transwonderland is an engaging portrait of a country whose beauty and variety few of us will experience, depicted with wit and insight by a refreshing new voice in contemporary travel writing.
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5.On Black Sisters Street by Chika Unigwe
Four very different women have made their way from Africa to Brussels. They have come to claim for themselves the riches they believe Europe promises but when Sisi, the most enigmatic of the women, is murdered, their already fragile world is shattered. Drawn together by tragedy, the remaining three women - Joyce, a great beauty whose life has been destroyed by war; Ama, whose dark moods manifest a past injustice; Efe, whose efforts to earn her keep are motivated by a particular zeal - slowly begin to share their stories.
6. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin
To the dismay of her ambitious mother, Bolanle marries into a polygamous family, where she is the fourth wife of a rich, rotund patriarch, Baba Segi. She is a graduate and therefore a great prize, but even graduates must produce children and her husband's persistent bellyache is a sign that things are not as they should be.
Weaving the voices of Baba Segi and his four competing wives into a portrait of a clamorous household of twelve, Lola Shoneyin evokes an extraordinary Nigerian family in splashes of vibrant colour.
7. The Spider King’s Daughter by Chibundu Onuzo
Seventeen-year-old Abike Johnson is the favourite child of her wealthy father. She lives in a sprawling mansion in Lagos, protected by armed guards and ferried everywhere in a huge black jeep. But being her father's favourite comes with uncomfortable duties, and she is often lonely behind the high walls of her house.
A world away from Abike's mansion, in the city's slums, lives a seventeen-year-old hawker struggling to make sense of the world. His family lost everything after his father's death and now he runs after cars on the roadside selling ice cream to support his mother and sister. When Abike buys ice cream from the hawker one day, they strike up an unlikely and tentative romance, defying the prejudices of Nigerian society. But as they grow closer, revelations from the past threaten their relationship and both Abike and the hawker must decide where their loyalties lie.
8. Bitter Leaf by Chioma Okereke
Bitter Leaf is a richly textured and intricate novel set in Mannobe, a world that is African in nature but never geographically placed. At the heart of the novel is the village itself and its colourful cast of inhabitants: Babylon, a gifted musician who falls under the spell of the beautiful Jericho who has recently returned from the city; Mabel and Melle Codon, twin sisters whose lives have taken very different paths, Magdalena, daughter of Mabel, who nurses an unrequited love for Babylon and Allegory, the wise old man who adheres to tradition. As lives and relationships change and Mannobe is challenged by encroaching development, the fragile web of dependency holding village life together is gradually revealed.
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9. Efuru by Flora Nwapa
The book is about Efuru, an Ibo woman who lives in a small village in colonial West Africa. Throughout the story, Efuru wishes to be a mother, though she is an independent-minded woman and respected for her trading ability.
10. The Translator by Leila Aboulela
Leila Abouleila’s debut novel is a nuanced and sensitive portrayal of love and faith; it follows the life of Sammar, a Sudanese widow, living in Scotland and working as an Arabic translator at a university in Aberdeen. Having lost her much-loved husband in a car accident, Sammar has completely abandoned herself to grief. It is not until she begins working for Rae, an agnostic Scottish Islamic scholar that Sammar begins to imagine a happier ending to her story, boldly allowing herself to love this man and to be loved by him, despite her unsettling doubts about his potential for faith.