Season of Migration to the North is a Sudanese writer Tayeb Salih’s novel. It first appeared in 1966 in Hiwâr, an Arabic magazine published in Beirut between 1962 and 1967. The central theme is the impact of British colonialism and European modernity on African rural societies in general and on Sudanese culture and identity in particular.
The novel has been translated into more than 20 languages. Although Salih was fluent in English and Arabic, he decided to write this novel in Arabic. The translation into English by Denys Johnson-Davis was published in 1969 as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series. 
In 2001, Season of Migration to the North was selected by a panel of Arabic writers and critics as the most important Arabic novel of the twentieth century.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba, is an inspiring story based on the author’s real-life about the power of imagination and the force of determination.
When a severe famine struck the small village where Kamkwamba used to live, his family lost all their crops and was left with nothing to eat or sell. Then, William started to look up a solution in science books and found the idea that would change his family’s life: build a windmill. Made from recycled material, metal, and bicycle parts, William’s windmill brought electricity to his home and helped his family get the water they needed for their crops. 
Published in 2009, the book has been translated into more than 20 languages and has been selected as an inspirational reader in several school and university curricula. The book was made into a movie in 2019. 

Allah Is Not Obliged is a novel by Ahmadou Kourouma, published in 2000. The title is a shortcut to the declaration reminding us that “Allah is not obliged to be fair about all the things he does here on earth,” a phrase repeated as a leitmotiv throughout the book.
It tells the story of Birahima, an orphan child that travels from Côte d'Ivoire through Liberia to search for his aunt. On his way, he enlists in several factions, becoming a child soldier. He will cross Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Côte d'Ivoire from adventure through adventure.
The novel is told in the first-person perspective, in oral French, that occasionally uses words coming from Malinke, the meaning of which is explained between round brackets. The novel has been translated into over 19 languages and awarded the Prix Renaudot, the Prix Goncourt, and the Prix Amerigo Vespucci. 

 

The Last Brother, by Mauritian writer Nathacha Appanah, tells the story of two kids brought together by the Holocaust.

On December 26, 1940, the Atlantic berthed at Port Loius carrying around 1,500 Jewish on board, who had been expelled from Palestine and deported to Mauritius, a British colony at the time. Raj, a kid, was utterly unaware of the tragedies hitting the rest of the world. However, he met David, a Jewish boy, and his life changed forever.

Translated into more than 16 languages, the novel portrays the innocence and naïveté of children in the face of tragedy.

 

Broken Glass is a novel authored by Alain Mabanckou, born in Congo-Brazzaville, who was awarded the Prix Renaudot.

Mabanckou offers a truculent account of a strange and unexpected Africa in this metaphysical charade, where subtlety blends with grotesque. The novel, the first to ever bust the myth that colonialist policies are the root of all evil in African states, puts forth a change in discourse. Furthermore, the novel argues that African literary culture lies in oral tradition and connects with Western written tradition, building dialogs with authors such as Mario Vargas Llosa. 

The novel was published in 2007 and translated into more than 15 languages. 

 

 

God's Bits Of Wood is a novel written by Senegalese writer and filmmaker Ousmane  Sembêne, which tells the events that took place in October 1947 when the 20,000 workers of the Dakar (Senegal)-Bamako (Mali) railway went on strike. A tough fight, a crucible of different and diverse struggles—anti-colonialist, labor, feminist—that will last five marks and will be a turning point in the relationship between the population and the colonial administration.

Along the pages of this novel, revolutionary Africa makes its rebellious voice heard, portrayed by Sembène with the agility of a filmmaker, painting each scene with moderate but firm lines and devoid of hate. 

The book was published in 1960 and translated into more than 15 languages. 

 

Abyssinian Chronicles is a novel by Moses Isegawa that takes us to the scenario of Uganda in the 1970s under the rule of dictator Idi Amin Dada. 

Through the eyes of its main character, Mugezi, a young man full of dreams and ambitions caged in a country marked by violence and oppression, the author depicts daily life in Uganda, from slums to high society ballrooms.  

While originally written in English, the novel was first published in Dutch in 1988. The book has been translated into more than 15 languages. 

 

 

Small Country is a novel written by director and singer Gaël Faye, the son of a French father and a Rwandan mother.

Published in 2016 and translated into more than 15 languages, it tells the story of Gabriel, a 10-year-old child living in Burundi, a country in Central Africa, in the 1990s. 

The plot unfolds in a context of ethnic and political tensions that eventually lead to an armed conflict. Gabriel, born in a mixed family of a French father and a Rwandan mother, faces the complexity of his identity and the violence surrounding him.

 

 

The African Child is an autobiographical French novel by Guinean author Camara Laye. It tells the story of Baba, a young child living in Kouroussa, a town in Guinea, where magic is present in different aspects of his everyday life. Laye delineates his experience at a colonial school, where he faces the influence of European culture and the gradual loss of his cultural identity.

The book, published in 1953, is considered one of the most renowned works in African literature. The book has been translated into more than 12 languages. 

 

 

We Need New Names is a novel by Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo.

It tells of a 10-year-old girl named Darling living in a town called Paradise, where food shortage, political violence, and economic devastation are part of everyday life. 

The story takes a turn when Darling is sent to live with her aunt in America. In the novel, the author depicts cultural clash and the experience of immigration.

Published in 2013, the book has received many awards and has been translated into over 12 languages.