An Introduction to African Literature

hi everyone! welcome to this very special post. i was inspired to do this post a couple weeks ago and i'm very excited to share with you all the world of african literature.

as an african, i love african literature, it is very near and dear to my heart. there's truly nothing i love than african cultures and learning more about the various cultures and traditions.

so i thought, hey let me make a post dedicated to books written by african authors, then i went one step further and decided to focus on zimbabwean authors. in honor of zimbabwean independence being in april (yes i meant to post this in april but school got in the way my bad) and me being zimbabwean i thought i'd be the plug for some juicy tales from my homeland. also while doing more research i found two websites that are all about african literature, one is specifically about zimbabwean lit and the other is a collective of african countries. i suggest giving them a visit if you want some african lit in ya life.

for now i'm going to highlight a few of the authors i found:

• tsitsi dangarembga - notable works include: nervous conditions. she was the first black woman in zimbabwe to have written a book in english. so we have to stan. 
• yvonne vera - notable works include: nehanda, the stone virgins, and why don't you carve other animals among others. another literary icon in zimbabwe. 
• tendai huchu - notable works include: hairdresser of harare, the maestro, the magistrate & the magician. his first name is my middle name, the power that has. 
• chenjerai hove - some notable works include: bones, blind moon, and shadows. he completed a translation of the king's lear by shakespeare into shona 
• Petina Gappah- notable works: the book of memory, rotten row and out of darkness, shining light. as well as being an author she is also a lawyer. 
• Dambudzo Marecha- some notable works include: the house of hunger and black sunlight. considered to be one of the greatest zimbabwean writers.  

this post is important in the conversation about representation #ourownvoices. literature is beautiful it's an easy gateway, a cheap vacation if you will. i hope this post helps introduces you to new stories and if you have read any of these books or have more recommendations holla at ya boi.
thank you all for reading. sorry for the lack of posts i've been trying to figure out life lol but i think i'm good and ready to post more. i have some really cool and fun ideas/posts in mind so secure your wig. lol thank you again for everything.
happy reading,
gugu :)