african literature

Criteria:
  • Keyword = african literature
Page:123Next ›Modify search
Showing 1 to 30 of 87
  • LYRICS ALLEY. by Aboulela, Leila.
    Aboulela, Leila.
    LYRICS ALLEY.

    Edition: Advance Reading Copy (trade paperback format. )

    New York: Grove Press, (2010). First edition - Novel set in 1950s Sudan, as British rule is coming to an end, by this award winning author, the story of a powerful dynasty trying to reconcile the pull of tradition and the need to move forward in a rapidly changing country. 308 pp plus author's note.

    Condition: Very near fine in illustrated wrappers.

    Book ID: 64304
    View cart More details Price: $18.50
  • ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH by Achebe, Chinua.
    Achebe, Chinua.
    ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH

    Edition: First US printing.

    New York: Anchor Press / Doubleday, 1988. dj. Hardcover first edition - A novel of contemporary Africa by this Nigerian writer. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize. 216 pp. ISBN: 0-385-016646.

    Condition: Very good in a good dust jacket (several edge tears to dj, corner of flap clipped but price of 16.95 still present).

    Book ID: 58167
    View cart More details Price: $18.50
  • Achebe, Chinua.
    ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH

    Edition: Trade paperback.

    New York: Anchor Books, 1988. A novel of contemporary Africa, shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

    Condition: Near fine.

    Book ID: 11606
    View cart More details Price: $8.50
  • BITTER EDEN: A Novel. by Afrika, Tatamkhulu (1920-2002)
    Afrika, Tatamkhulu (1920-2002)
    BITTER EDEN: A Novel.

    Edition: First US printing.

    New York: Picador, (2014) dj. Hardcover first edition - An autobiographical novel illuminating the profound and incomparable bonds forged between prisoners of war, this is based on Tatamkhulu Afrika's own capture in North Africa and his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II in Italy and Germany. Originally published in the UK in 2002 (just weeks before his death at 82) this is the first appearance of this novel in the US. Publisher's note. vii, 220 pp. ISBN: 978-1250043665.

    Condition: Near fine in near fine dust jacket.

    Book ID: 90261
    View cart More details Price: $18.00
  • BITTER EDEN: A Novel. by Afrika, Tatamkhulu (1920-2002)
    Afrika, Tatamkhulu (1920-2002)
    BITTER EDEN: A Novel.

    Edition: First US printing.

    New York: Picador, (2014) dj. Hardcover first edition - An autobiographical novel illuminating the profound and incomparable bonds forged between prisoners of war, this is based on Tatamkhulu Afrika's own capture in North Africa and his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II in Italy and Germany. Originally published in the UK in 2002 (just weeks before his death at 82) this is the first appearance of this novel in the US. Publisher's note. vii, 220 pp. ISBN: 978-1250043665.

    Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.

    Book ID: 71637
    View cart More details Price: $20.00
  • SAY YOU'RE ONE OF THEM. by Akpan, Uwem.
    Akpan, Uwem.
    SAY YOU'RE ONE OF THEM.

    Edition: First printing.

    New York & Boston: Little Brown, (2008). SIGNED hardcover first edition - Nigerian author's prize winning first book - a collection of five short stories, each set in a different country in Africa, and each a testament to the incredible resilience of children. From a family living in a makeshift shanty in urban Kenya in "Ex-Mas Feast" to a a Rwandan girl who relates her family's struggles to maintain a facade of normalcy amid unspeakable acts, and a young brother and sister coping with their uncle's attempt to sell them into slavery, the toll of poverty and religious conflict becomes clear. Louise Erdrich called this book "A beautiful, bitter, compelling read. The savagely strange juxtapositions in these stories are…

    (more)

    New York & Boston: Little Brown, (2008). SIGNED hardcover first edition - Nigerian author's prize winning first book - a collection of five short stories, each set in a different country in Africa, and each a testament to the incredible resilience of children. From a family living in a makeshift shanty in urban Kenya in "Ex-Mas Feast" to a a Rwandan girl who relates her family's struggles to maintain a facade of normalcy amid unspeakable acts, and a young brother and sister coping with their uncle's attempt to sell them into slavery, the toll of poverty and religious conflict becomes clear. Louise Erdrich called this book "A beautiful, bitter, compelling read. The savagely strange juxtapositions in these stories are grounded by the loving relationships between brothers and sisters forced to survive in a world of dreamlike horror. Open the book at any page, as in divination, and a stunning sentence will leap out. Newspaper facts are molded by Akpan's sure touch into fictional works of great power." SIGNED on the title page. Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region) 2009 and PEN/Beyond Margins Award 2009, and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction among other honors. The author's first novel, "New York, My Village", was published in November 2021 to excellent reviews. Map frontispiece. 358 pp. ISBN: 978-0316113786.

    (less)

    Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.

    Book ID: 82738
    View cart More details Price: $65.00
  • SAY YOU'RE ONE OF THEM. by Akpan, Uwem.
    Akpan, Uwem.
    SAY YOU'RE ONE OF THEM.

    Edition: Advance Reading Copy (trade paperback format. )

    New York & Boston: Little Brown, (2008). First edition - Nigerian author's prize winning first book - a collection of five short stories, each set in a different country in Africa, and each a testament to the incredible resilience of children. From a family living in a makeshift shanty in urban Kenya in "Ex-Mas Feast" to a a Rwandan girl who relates her family's struggles to maintain a facade of normalcy amid unspeakable acts, and a young brother and sister coping with their uncle's attempt to sell them into slavery, the toll of poverty and religious conflict becomes clear. Louise Erdrich called this book "A beautiful, bitter, compelling read. The savagely strange juxtapositions in these stories are grounded by…

    (more)

    New York & Boston: Little Brown, (2008). First edition - Nigerian author's prize winning first book - a collection of five short stories, each set in a different country in Africa, and each a testament to the incredible resilience of children. From a family living in a makeshift shanty in urban Kenya in "Ex-Mas Feast" to a a Rwandan girl who relates her family's struggles to maintain a facade of normalcy amid unspeakable acts, and a young brother and sister coping with their uncle's attempt to sell them into slavery, the toll of poverty and religious conflict becomes clear. Louise Erdrich called this book "A beautiful, bitter, compelling read. The savagely strange juxtapositions in these stories are grounded by the loving relationships between brothers and sisters forced to survive in a world of dreamlike horror. Open the book at any page, as in divination, and a stunning sentence will leap out. Newspaper facts are molded by Akpan's sure touch into fictional works of great power." Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region) 2009 and PEN/Beyond Margins Award 2009, and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction among other honors. The author has his first novel, second book, coming out in November 2021. Map frontispiece. Includes a conversation with the author. 364 pp.

    (less)

    Condition: Fine in illustrated wrappers with self-flaps. .

    Book ID: 82739
    View cart More details Price: $30.00
  • (Aniebo, Egudu, Emenyonu, Jahn, Leslie, Nwog, Povey, Wonodi, and others, contributors.) Okwu, Edward C., editor.
    UFAHAMU: Volume 4, Number 1, Spring 1973: New Approaches to African Literature.

    Edition: First appearance in print of these works.

    Los Angeles: African Activist Association, 1973. First edition - Includes articles on Nigerian writers, Arabic short fiction in Algeria, North African novels, Uncle Tomism and more.

    Condition: Very good in wrappers.

    Book ID: 14200
    View cart More details Price: $20.00
  • LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN NOTEBOOK, VOLUME 1. by Awoonor, Kofi N. [Nyidevu] (1935-2013)
    Awoonor, Kofi N. [Nyidevu] (1935-2013)
    LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN NOTEBOOK, VOLUME 1.

    Edition: First printing, a trade paperback, issued simultaneously with hardcover.

    Trenton, NJ. Africa World Press, (1992). First edition - An uncommon collection of poetry by this Ghanian writer, who was tragically killed in the terrorist attack on a Nairobi shopping mall. Cover and illustrations by Carles J Juzang. 87 pp. ISBN: 0-86453-3151.

    Condition: Fine in glossy illustrated wrappers.

    Book ID: 58298
    View cart More details Price: $40.00
  • SKY-HIGH FLAMES. by Azuah, Unoma Nguemo.
    Azuah, Unoma Nguemo.
    SKY-HIGH FLAMES.

    Edition: First printing, a trade paperback original.

    Baltimore: PublishAmerica, (2005). First edition - Nigerian author's first novel, the story of a young woman, seeking an education and independent life, but married by proxy (to a man with syphilis) and bound by the wishes of her family and those around her. One reviewer commented that "AzuahÕs treatment of the African culture is interesting because, like Chimamanda Adichie, she regards her culture as too good and instrumental to be totally jettisoned. It is to the same culture that flings Ofunne to Kaduna that she returns in order to pick another beginning. So, it is not the culture, but the greed of the people in the culture that brings infamy to the culture." (E.A. Sule) 163 pp. ISBN: 1-41373247x.

    Condition: Fine in glossy illustrated wrappers.

    Book ID: 89972
    View cart More details Price: $21.50
  • THE MWINDO EPIC FROM THE BANYANGA (ZAIRE) by Biebuyck, Daniel and Kahombo C. Mateene, editors.
    Biebuyck, Daniel and Kahombo C. Mateene, editors.
    THE MWINDO EPIC FROM THE BANYANGA (ZAIRE)

    Edition: Trade paperback.

    Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, (1989, c 1969). An example of oral folk literature, this epic, sung and narrated in a Bantu language and acted out by a member of the Nyanga tribe in the remote forest regions of eastern Zaire, celebrated the feats of Mwindo. It is here presented in prose form, interspersed with song and proverbs in verse, and translated by the editors. Included is the original Nyanga text. Extensive footnotes, index. viii, 213 pp. ISBN: 0-520020499.

    Condition: Fine in glossy wrappers.

    Book ID: 83981
    View cart More details Price: $12.00
  • KING KONG: An African Jazz Opera. by Bloom, Harry; lyrics by Pat Williams.
    Bloom, Harry; lyrics by Pat Williams.
    KING KONG: An African Jazz Opera.

    Edition: Paperback original - first printing.

    London: Fontana, (1961). Fontana Books Paperback Original #605. A jazz opera play which tells the story of a black boxer in a South African shanty town - inspired by the life and death of the heavyweight boxing champion Ezekiel Dlamini. Billed as a 'Jazz-Opera', the production was first staged in Johannesburg, opening in February 1959 and even though it was a direct challenge to apartheid it was an immediate success touring the country for two years, before multi-racial audiences, and then opening in London in 1961. The author, Harry Bloom, was a South African attorney and activist who worked with Nelson Mandela during the late 1950s and was detained, without being charged, after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. Lyrics…

    (more)

    London: Fontana, (1961). Fontana Books Paperback Original #605. A jazz opera play which tells the story of a black boxer in a South African shanty town - inspired by the life and death of the heavyweight boxing champion Ezekiel Dlamini. Billed as a 'Jazz-Opera', the production was first staged in Johannesburg, opening in February 1959 and even though it was a direct challenge to apartheid it was an immediate success touring the country for two years, before multi-racial audiences, and then opening in London in 1961. The author, Harry Bloom, was a South African attorney and activist who worked with Nelson Mandela during the late 1950s and was detained, without being charged, after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. Lyrics by Pat Williams. Illustrated with black and white stills from the theater production. 98 pp.

    (less)

    Condition: Near Fine in white pictorial wraps with red & black lettering (an export edition with the price on the front cover replaced with 2 small red triangles)

    Book ID: 88617
    View cart More details Price: $35.00
  • PHILIDA. by Brink, Andre.
    Brink, Andre.
    PHILIDA.

    Edition: Advance Reading Copy (trade paperback format. )

    New York: Vintage International, (2013.). First edition - A Vintage Original. Novel set in 1832, the year before slavery is abolished in South Africa. Philida is the mother of four children by Francois Brink, the son of her master, and when Francois is going to marry a white woman, and Philida is about to be sold, she decides to risk her whole life by lodging a complaint against Francois. Based on the real story of a slave woman determined to take control of her own life, for better or for worse. Finalist for the Man Booker Award. 310 pp. Advance Readers Copy sticker on back cover.

    Condition: Fine in illustrated wrappers with self-flaps (as new, but with line on bottom edge.)

    Book ID: 55255
    View cart More details Price: $12.00
  • A SIMPLE LUST: Selected Poems including Sirens Knuckles Boots, Letters to Martha, Poems from Algiers, Thoughts Abroad. by Brutus, Dennis.
    Brutus, Dennis.
    A SIMPLE LUST: Selected Poems including Sirens Knuckles Boots, Letters to Martha, Poems from Algiers, Thoughts Abroad.

    Edition: First US printing.

    New York: Hill & Wang, (1973.) dj. Hardcover first edition - "Collected poems of South African jail and exile" by this exiled political activist and sportsman, jwho was jailed for his activities there, and whose books were banned in South Africa for over 20 years. 176 pp. Dust jacket design by Judith Turner. ISBN: 0-435-90115X.

    Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.

    Book ID: 72619
    View cart More details Price: $30.00
  • STILL THE SIRENS. by Brutus, Dennis.
    Brutus, Dennis.
    STILL THE SIRENS.

    Edition: First printing, a trade paperback, not issued in hardcover.

    Santa Fe, New Mexico: Pennywhistle Press, 1993. SIGNED first edition - A Pennywhistle chapbooks. A colllection of poems, many political and very moving, by this writer and activist who has been called the 'singing voice of the South African Liberation Movement.' With an Introduction by Lamont B. Steptoe. INSCRIBED on the title page, and dated in the year of publication. 32 pp. ISBN: 0-938631-098.

    Condition: Near fine in glossy white wrappers (slight abrasion on the title page.)

    Book ID: 48961
    View cart More details Price: $35.00
  • WE NEED NEW NAMES. by Bulawayo, NoViolet.
    Bulawayo, NoViolet.
    WE NEED NEW NAMES.

    Edition: Advance Reading Copy (trade paperback format. )

    New York & Boston: Little Brown, (2013). SIGNED first edition - First novel by this young author who was born in Zimbabwe, a story of the resillience of children and of displacement and arrival in a new country - winner of the Los Angeles Times award for First Fiction and short-listed for the Man-Booker. SIGNED on the title page. 280 pp plus a 2 pp conversation with author Justin Torres.

    Condition: Fine in illustrated wrappers.

    Book ID: 63926
    View cart More details Price: $50.00
  • Cartey, Wilfred (editor)
    PALAVER: MODERN AFRICAN WRITINGS.

    Edition: First printing.

    New York: Thomas Nelson, (1970.) dj. Hardcover first edition - An anthology of modern African writing, both stories and poetry, but rooted in folklore: 'a Muslim of the Sudan, a prisoner in South Africa, an Ethiopian folklorist, a playwright of the Niger Delta, and many others.' Contributors include Amos Tutuola, Alex La Guma, Mongo Beti, Peter Abrahams, James Ngugi, Cyprian Ekwensi, John Pepper Clark, Camara Laye, Leopold Senghor and others. 183 pp

    Condition: Ex-library with the usual markings, but overall tight and clean in a fine unmarked dustjacket. Woodcut illustration on dj and title page by Wendy Kindred.

    Book ID: 30341
    View cart More details Price: $12.50
  • Drachler, Jacob.
    AFRICAN HERITAGE: An Anthology of Black African Personality and Culture.

    Edition: Paperback.

    New York: Collier, 1964. Stories, poems, songs, folk tales and essays. Preface by Melville J. Herskovits.

    Condition: Good condition.

    Book ID: 20654
    Keywords: African Literature
    View cart More details Price: $10.00
  • THE ADVENTURES OF OBATALA: Ifa and Santeria God of Creativity. by Eleburuibon, Chief Priest Ifayemi.
    Eleburuibon, Chief Priest Ifayemi.
    THE ADVENTURES OF OBATALA: Ifa and Santeria God of Creativity.

    Edition: First edition, a trade paperback original.

    Osogbo, Oyo State, Nigeria: A.P.I. Production, (1989). First edition - Presents selections from Odu Ifa concerning Obatala, the Yoruba God of creativity and arch-divinity.The author is a Yoruba and Nigerian writer, poet, author, linguist, and an Ifa priest, who has been recognized for his pursuit of the preservation of Yoruba culture and heritage. Illustrated, notes, glossary. 90 pp. ISBN: 0-916299082.

    Condition: Fine in glossy illustrated wrappers.

    Book ID: 87621
    View cart More details Price: $40.00
  • THE FAMILY. by Emecheta, Buchi.
    Emecheta, Buchi.
    THE FAMILY.

    Edition: Trade paperback (BOMC.)

    New York: George Braziller, (1989.). Award-winning, Nigerian-born author's ninth novel, the story of a young girl from Jamaica who comes to London to be reunited with the parents who deserted her years ago. . 239 pp. ISBN: 0-8076-12502.

    Condition: Fair condition only (crinkling to about half the pages caused by dampness, wear to covers, strictly an inexpensive reading copy.)

    Book ID: 48198
    View cart More details Price: $8.50
  • SECOND CLASS CITIZEN. by Emecheta, Buchi.
    Emecheta, Buchi.
    SECOND CLASS CITIZEN.

    Edition: First US printing.

    New York: George Braziller, (1975.) dj. Hardcover first edition - Novel by this Nigerian novelist, the story of a young girl determined to get an education- she marries a student, sends him to England and follows him to London after giving birth to their second child. 175 pp. ISBN: 0-8076-08017.

    Condition: Ex-library with the usual markings, but overall tight and clean in a near fine and unmarked dust jacket.

    Book ID: 43251
    Keywords: African Literature
    View cart More details Price: $15.00
  • THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD. by Emecheta, Buchi.
    Emecheta, Buchi.
    THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD.

    Edition: Trade paperback.

    New York: George Braziller, (1979.). Nigerian-born author's fourth novel, a moving story of the struggles of one Ibo woman to keep her family together, through periods of extreme hardship and deprivation both in the village and in urban Lagos. In telling the story of Nnu Ego, Emecheta is writing about the plight of women everywhere. 234 pp. Cover art by Catherine Stock. ISBN: 0-807609501.

    Condition: Ex-library but only a couple of small markings - overall very good condition - tight and clean.

    Book ID: 65826
    View cart More details Price: $9.50
  • THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD. by Emecheta, Buchi.
    Emecheta, Buchi.
    THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD.

    Edition: Trade paperback.

    New York: George Braziller, (1979.). Nigerian-born author's fourth novel, a moving story of the struggles of one Ibo woman to keep her family together, through periods of extreme hardship and deprivation both in the village and in urban Lagos. In telling the story of Nnu Ego, Emecheta is writing about the plight of women everywhere. 234 pp. Cover art by Catherine Stock. ISBN: 0-807609501.

    Condition: Very good in illustrated wrappers (some highlighting in the beginning of the book).

    Book ID: 41229
    View cart More details Price: $9.00
  • MAPS. by Farah, Nuruddin.
    Farah, Nuruddin.
    MAPS.

    Edition: First thus - first Arcade printing.

    New York: Arcade Publishing, (1999.) dj. Hardcover first edition - Novel by this award-winning Somalian writer, living in exile but determined to "keep my country alive by writing about it." The first book in his "Blood in the Sun" trilogy. 246 pp. ISBN: 1-559704853.

    Condition: Very near fine in a like dustjacket.

    Book ID: 89840
    View cart More details Price: $18.00
  • LINKS. by Farah, Nuruddin.
    Farah, Nuruddin.
    LINKS.

    Edition: First US printing.

    New York: Riverhead Books, 2004. dj. Hardcover first edition - Novel by this award-winning Somalian writer, set in the civil-war torn city of Mogadiscio which is now ruled by warlords and their gun-toting militias. Author's note. 336 pp. ISBN: 1573222658.

    Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.

    Book ID: 51618
    View cart More details Price: $18.50
  • ANCESTOR STONES. by Forna, Aminatta.
    Forna, Aminatta.
    ANCESTOR STONES.

    Edition: 1st trade paperback printing.

    New York: Grove Press, (2007). A novel which portrays the lives of five Sierra Leonean women. "AbieÑa young woman born and raised in Sierra Leone, who now lives in London with her Portuguese-Scottish husband and their childrenÑreceives a letter from her aunts informing her they're bequeathing her the family coffee plantation. When Abie returns, her aunts offer her another gift: their stories." 317 pp plus a reading guide. ISBN: 978-0802143211.

    Condition: Fine (a new copy.)

    Book ID: 69799
    View cart More details Price: $15.00
  • TALES OF MOGHO: African Stories From Upper Volta. by Guirma, Frederic (1931- )
    Guirma, Frederic (1931- )
    TALES OF MOGHO: African Stories From Upper Volta.

    Edition: First printing.

    New York: Macmillan, (1971) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first appearance in print of eight folktales which have been part of the oral tradition of the Mossi people of West Africa for centuries, illustrated with pen-and-ink line drawings by the author. The author was born in Ouagadougou, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), and he was its first Ambassador to the United Nations and to the US when it achieved independence in 1960. Glossary. xii, 113 pp.

    Condition: Ex-library with the usual markings and missing front endpaper, but overall tight and clean in a near fine dj.

    Book ID: 83352
    View cart More details Price: $16.50
  • Hammond, Peter B.
    YATENGA : Technology in the Culture of a West African Kingdom

    Edition: First printing.

    New York: Free Press, (1966.). Hardcover first edition - A comprehensive study of the Mossi, subsistance farmers in West Africa. Photographs, maps, index and bibliography. 231 pp;

    Condition: Very good in orange cloth, lacking the dustjacket.

    Book ID: 28896
    Keywords: African Literature
    View cart More details Price: $15.00
  • BLOODSONG And Other Stories of South Africa. by Havemann, Ernst.
    Havemann, Ernst.
    BLOODSONG And Other Stories of South Africa.

    Edition: First US printing.

    Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's first book, a collection of short stories which make the voices of the African laborers and the Afrikaaners come alive. From the dustjacket: "Violence comes in many forms, not all of them bloody. These extraordinarily moving stories from South Africa report not on the violence of the evening news but on the quiet anguish and brutality suffered by all the nation's inhabitants, both black and white.". 134 pp. ISBN: 0-395432960.

    Condition: Fine in a poor dust jacket (large piece has been torn from back cover - it is still present, but detached.)

    Book ID: 61579
    View cart More details Price: $15.00
  • Havemann, Ernst.
    BLOOD SONG And Other Stories of South Africa.

    Edition: First US printing.

    Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's first book, a collection of short stories which make the voices of the African laborers and the Afrikaaners come alive. From the dustjacket: "Violence comes in many forms, not all of them bloody. These extraordinarily moving stories from South Africa report not on the violence of the evening news but on the quiet anguish and brutality suffered by all the nation's inhabitants, both black and white.". 134 pp. ISBN: 0-395432960.

    Condition: Very near fine in a very good dustjacket (initials at bottom edge of textblock, some spotting to the spine of the dj, tear at upper edge.)

    Book ID: 32744
    View cart More details Price: $15.00