Literary start: what are the African novels to follow?

With 511 new novels available for this literary season, it is not always easy to navigate. To guide you through the shelves of bookstores, France 24 highlights African authors or authors of African origin not to be missed. Between sure values ​​and newbies, the continent is explored from every angle through these books.

• Those who are used to

- Alain Mabanckou, "Rumors of America" ​​(Plon)

In his thirteenth novel, the Franco-Congolese writer tells the story of the United States, where he has been teaching since the early 2000s. Full professor of Francophone literature at UCLA, he examines this new world around him. Between the opulence of Santa Monica, the harsh condition of the minorities of Los Angeles, the despair of the surrounding agglomerations, but also the enthusiasm of a population which still carries within it the American dream, he draws the portrait of another America.

In bookstores today, also available on all online platforms - pic.twitter.com/tasBFdSYYw

- Yasmina Khadra, "The salt of all forgetfulness" (Julliard)

Successful author translated all over the world, former officer of the Algerian army with an extraordinary career, the writer Yasmina Khadra explores this time the post war in Algeria. In his new novel, he tells the life of Adem Naït-Gacem, a teacher without history in a village in the region of Blida in 1963. The universe of this man collapses the day his wife slams the door. He then leaves everything to go on the roads.

- Faïza Guene, "Discretion" (Plon)

Entering literature at the age of 19, Faïza Guène has continued to confirm his talent. At 35, she is already signing her sixth novel. In "Discretion", she traces the fate of three generations of North African immigrants, between Algeria and France. The story follows Yamina, an Algerian woman, from her small village near the Moroccan border to Seine-Saint-Denis: "Forty years later, in Aubervilliers, she lives in discretion. For this mother, n isn't that another way of resisting? But anger, even when suppressed, is transmitted casually ".

#culture The discretion of Faïza Guène published by Plon will be released tomorrow, August 27, 2020. # RENTREE2020 # faïzaguene 6th book to discover. #france pic.twitter.com/LEWiYi8Gp7

- Sindiwe Magona, "Mother to mother" (Inkwell memory)

A great apartheid novel published in 1998, it was translated into French for the first time. Sindiwe Magona signs a moving story in the form of a letter. South Africa is told in all its nuances, complexity and passion. The author puts herself in the shoes of her neighbor, a woman whose son killed a young American who came to work as a volunteer for the first free elections in South Africa. The mother of the murderer speaks directly to the mother of the victim: "My son killed your daughter". 

• Those who confirm

- Djaili Amadou Amal, "Les impatientes" (Emmanuelle Collas)

The first winner of the Orange Book Prize in Africa for her novel "Munyal, les larmes de la patience", this work is published in France in a new edition and under a new title. The Cameroonian writer breaks taboos and mixes the fate of three women: that of Ramla, 17, torn from her love to be forcibly married to Alhadji Issa, a rich man who is already married. Hindu, his sister of the same age, is forced to marry Mubarak, his cousin, alcoholic, drugged and violent. As for Safira, 35 years old, the first wife of Alhadji Issa, she takes a very dim view of the arrival in her home of young Ramla, whom she wants to see repudiated. 

[INFOS]

Amel Amal (Djaïli Amadou Amal) is about to open a new page, impatiently.

Editions Emmanuelle Collas announce "Les impatientes". # stopcovid19 pic.twitter.com/u1gV4D5OhI

- Marc Alexandre Oho Bambe, "The lights of Oujda" (Calmann Levy)

As much poet, writer, slammer as traveler, the Cameroonian is releasing a second novel. This passionate about words, winner of the Paul Verlaine Prize of the French Academy, is interested in the fate of a migrant repatriated after having tried to reach Italy. The narrator becomes involved in an association which fights to avoid departures "to cemeteries of sand and water". He meets Father Antoine and Imane in Oujda, Morocco, forging an unfailing bond with them. 

- Fiston Mwanza Mujila, "La danse du Vilain" (Métailié)

With his first novel, "Tram 83", the Congolese author has achieved success and won numerous awards. He returns with a new story between trafficking in precious stones and frenzied nightclubs, between Angola, in the midst of civil war, and Zaire on the verge of explosion. Sanza, exasperated by family life, leaves his parents and goes to the Parvis de la Poste, where other street kids live. Begins the "dolce vita", larcenies young and old, movies with Ngungi, the child sorcerer, and air travel to the infra-world.

• Those who are just starting out

- Fatima Daas, "The last one" (Notabilia)

At 25, she hits hard with her first book. She is the mazoziya, the youngest. The one we did not prepare for. French of Algerian origin. Practicing Muslim. Clichoise who spends more than three hours a day in transport. A tourist. A suburban woman who observes Parisian behavior. "I am a liar, a sinner. Teenager, I am an unstable student. Adult, I am hyper-maladjusted. I write stories to avoid living mine. I did four years of therapy. It is my longer relationship. Love was taboo at home, signs of tenderness, sexuality too, "she writes.

- Roukiata Ouedraogo, "Honey under the pancakes" (Slatikine & Cie)

Actress and humorist of Burkinabè origin, she is revealed under a new label. This first story is above all personal. The artist keeps the soft chronicle of the drama which upset his childhood. She tells about her family, her siblings, her parents, the injustice that strikes them with the arrest of her father. But above all, she tells about her mother, a woman left alone to raise her seven children, struggling to make ends meet, by selling her delicious pancakes on her doorstep.

Feminism, I fell into it at the age of 9 ...
HONEY UNDER THE CAKES.
Roukiata Ouedraogo's first novel
Day
d- 40 @slatkineetcompagnie pic.twitter.com/ToNv6KZGx2

- Hella Feki, "Jasmine Wedding" (Lattes)

Literature teacher and trainer, she grew up in Tunisia. In her first novel, she looks back on the 2011 revolution. Newspapers are censored, information is disseminated on the Internet and a murmur runs through Tunisia: the street rumbles. Mehdi, a young journalist, walks in circles in his cell, not knowing what will become of him. Outside, Essia is worried about the disappearance of Mehdi, her new love. She leaves for Sfax, her hometown, to try to find him. 

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