Is Africa Hot or Not?

December 22, 2009 • Read more by Edward Nawotka • 5 Comments

By Edward Nawotka

Every couple of years a new African writer appears to take the publishing world by storm. Two recent examples include the literary-minded Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose Half of a Yellow Sun won both the Orange Prize for Fiction in the United Kingdom and a $500,000 MacArthur genius grant in the United States. And on the commercial side, Alexander McCall Smith—a Scotsman writing about Botswana—has produced the phenomenally popular No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Novels (books that have inspired numerous imitators).

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie © Karen Jackson

Even more recently, Oprah Winfrey—perhaps the most powerful sales force in American media—picked Uwem Akpan’s collection of short stories, Say You’re One of Them, for her famous book club. It would seem that African books are hot (or at least getting hotter). Yet, in our lead story today about Africa Literature Week held in Oslo, Norway last month, a variety of Norwegian publishers expressed their disappointment in the sales and lack of review coverage for their translated African novels.

So, the question is this: Is Africa hot or not?

Earlier this year Rob Spillman, editor of Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing, pointed out that there are 54 nations and over 2,000 languages in Africa, which would suggest that language is the first issue—since the number of African writers working in their indigenous languages is likely ten-times the number working in English (or German or Norwegian…). Will African writing always be a curiosity in the West or does it represent a larger opportunity for Western publishers in search of new talent?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or via Twitter using hashtag #ppbonus.

5 Comments → “Is Africa Hot or Not?”

The Internet is Africa’s “Gutenberg Moment”

2 years ago

[...] DISCUSS: Is Africa hot or not? [...]
Steve Marban

2 years ago

I read Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun and am now finishing That Thing Around Your Neck, her short stories. I am convinced that Chimamanda Adichie has already joined the ranks of Africa’s most important writers, on top of which she has opened African literature to a wider audience. Her writing has heart and resonates with those open to the experiences of the world, and the love that exists in us, despite everything.
Almanacco del Giorno – 22 Dec. 2009 « Almanacco Americano

2 years ago

[...] Publishing Perspectives – Is African Literature Hot or Not? [...]
Jimmy Smith

1 year ago

African literature is like white rap – every now and then a good one comes along to crawl from the rubbish. A few names like Achebe and Adichie are worth a read but exist in a vacuum. ‘African literature’ is probably less than half a dozen writers.
Aloysius Gwandi

1 year ago

Jimmy Smith do some reading before you disparage African writers. Quite often western critiques see nothing good in non-westernised literature. The likes of Jimmy Smith happily wallow in their prejudices just as the west refuses to acknowledge for example that modern abstract art was actually discovered in Africa. But they wont stifle the African’s creativity no matter how hard they try. Do some homework and exercise some open-mindedness sir! And look forward to Traded for A Trifle by me!!