Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century is the most ambitious project ever embarked on by the African publishing industry. To encourage African writers and publishers, the Zimbabwe International Book Fair launched the international compilation of "Africa's 100 Best Books"
read more   This project included nominations from all over the world, followed by rigorous selection criteria which included assessment of quality, ability to provide information or insight, a continuing contribution to debate and the extent to which a book broke down boundaries. The final list had to reflect a balance of regional representation, gender, historical spread and genres of writing. The top 100 list were selected and the Awards were presented to the authors and publishers of the Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century or their representatives on Saturday 27 July, 2002 in Cape Town, South Africa at a ceremony attended by eminent dignitaries.
The aim of this endeavour is: * to celebrate the achievements of African writers over the last century; * to stimulate debate, discussion, reading, criticism and analysis of African writing; * to foster the publication and development of new titles and those that are currently out of print; * to encourage translation of different texts; * to promote the sale and exchange of books continent-wide and throughout the world; * and above all to increase awareness and knowledge of books and writing by African authors.

This page lists the holdings of the 'Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century' that the African Union Library has in its collection.
It is also available by country, language and type - please refer to it at the end of the page

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A couple of book covers



Maps: A Novel
- Farah, Nuruddin


Murambi, le livre des ossements
- Diop, Boubacar Boris


Native Life in South Africa
- Plaatje, Solomon Tshekisho


Nedjma: Roman
- Yacine, Kateb


Nervous conditions
- Dangarembga, Tsitsi


Oeuvre poètique
- Senghor, Leopold Sedar


So long a letter
- Ba, Mariama


SOSU' S call
- Asare, Meshack


Soundjata, ou l'épopée mandingue
- Niane, Djibril Tamsir


Stories from a Shona Childhood
- Mungoshi, Charles
      1. A grain of wheat - Ngugi wa Thiong'o - (English)
      3. Chaka - Mofolo, Thomas - (English)
      4. L'Amour, la fantasia - Djebar, Assia - (French)
      5. Nervous conditions - Dangarembga, Tsitsi - (English)
      6. Oeuvre poètique - Senghor, Leopold Sedar - (French)
      7. SOSU' S call - Asare, Meshack - (English)
      8. Terra Sonâmbula: romance - Couto, Mia - (Portuguese)
      10. The Cairo trilogy - Mahfuz, Najib - (English)
      11. Things fall apart - Achebe, Chinua - (English)
      12. Une si longue lettre - Ba Mariama - (French)
      61. Oeuvre poètique - Senghor, Leopold Sedar - (French)
      65. So long a letter - Ba, Mariama - (English)
      66. Song of lawino; song of ocol - P'Bitek, Okot - (English)
      67. SOSU' S call - Asare, Meshack - (English)
      68. Soundjata, ou l'épopée mandingue - Niane, Djibril Tamsir - (French)
      69. Stories from a Shona Childhood - Mungoshi, Charles - (English)
      70. Terra Sonâmbula: romance - Couto, Mia - (Portuguese)
      73. The Cairo trilogy - Mahfuz, Najib - (English)
      74. The colonizer and the colonized - Memmi, Albert - (English)
      75. The Dark Child - Laye, Camara - (English)
      76. The dilemma of a ghost and Anowa - Aidoo, Ama Ata - (English)
      77. The famished road - Okrim Ben - (English)
      78. The fortunes of Wangrin - Bâ, Amadou Hampaté - (English)
      79. The history of Yorubas - Johnson, Samuel, Rev. - (English)
      80. The House of Hunger - Marechera, Dambudzo - (English)
      61. Oeuvre poètique - Senghor, Leopold Sedar - (French)
      65. So long a letter - Ba, Mariama - (English)
      66. Song of lawino; song of ocol - P'Bitek, Okot - (English)
      67. SOSU' S call - Asare, Meshack - (English)
      68. Soundjata, ou l'épopée mandingue - Niane, Djibril Tamsir - (French)
      69. Stories from a Shona Childhood - Mungoshi, Charles - (English)
      70. Terra Sonâmbula: romance - Couto, Mia - (Portuguese)
      73. The Cairo trilogy - Mahfuz, Najib - (English)
      74. The colonizer and the colonized - Memmi, Albert - (English)
      75. The Dark Child - Laye, Camara - (English)
      76. The dilemma of a ghost and Anowa - Aidoo, Ama Ata - (English)
      77. The famished road - Okrim Ben - (English)
      78. The fortunes of Wangrin - Bâ, Amadou Hampaté - (English)
      79. The history of Yorubas - Johnson, Samuel, Rev. - (English)
      80. The House of Hunger - Marechera, Dambudzo - (English)