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Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | Yes of course

Katherine Kirby — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:27:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Katherine Kirby
Post title: Yes of course

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, parts of Ibn Battuta's travelogues, Mariama Ba's Amica Mia (using the Italian title because I read the Italian translation), Amara Lakhous' Scontro di Civilta' per un Ascensore a Piazza Vittorio...

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | A few recommendations

Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 18:21:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Post title: A few recommendations

[quote]Baran Keki wrote:

[quote]Kay Denney wrote:
Which African authors might you recommend? [/quote]
Hi Kay,
It's good to see you among the living :)
I can recommend the Nigerian author Buchi Emecheta. I remember seeing a very short excerpt from one of her books in an English workbook when I was in high school. [/quote]

Seconded. I read her novel "Head Above Water" not too long ago and quite enjoyed it. "Efuru" by Florence Nwapa is another beautiful and haunting book. Ben Okri's "Famished Road" is also a classic, well deserving the Booker Prize it won.
Chinua Achebe's entire corpus is great, and I'm very partial to Amos Tutuola's work as well, although he is not very accessible unless you know West African folklore and/or pidgin.
Actually, just read all the books in the African Writers Series and that's a good start.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | .

Baran Keki — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 08:29:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Baran Keki
Post title: .

[quote]Kay Denney wrote:
Which African authors might you recommend? [/quote]
Hi Kay,
It's good to see you among the living :)
I can recommend the Nigerian author Buchi Emecheta. I remember seeing a very short excerpt from one of her books in an English workbook when I was in high school.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | .

Kay Denney — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 18:23:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Kay Denney
Post title: .

[quote]Baran Keki wrote:

[quote]Dan Lucas wrote:

A small number from the usual canon - Athol Fugard, Alan Paton, Chinua Achebe, J. M. Coetzee, etc. No Nadine Gordimer, surprisingly.
Ryszard Kapuscinski is also strongly associated in my mind with Africa, although of course he is not African.
Nothing recent, as you can see...

Dan
[/quote]
The majority of the writers you've listed appear to be white and South African/Rhodesian, and have written in English, not in some exotic African language.
I believe the question intends to find out whether we've read any translation from a black African writer who wrote in their native language.
Personally, I've never read anything from Paton or Coetzee, but I wouldn't expect them to be any different from Steinbeck or some Aussie writer... [/quote]
Which African authors might you recommend?

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | Exceptions?

Baran Keki — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 12:53:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Baran Keki
Post title: Exceptions?

[quote]Kevin Fulton wrote:
Just off the top of my head, I can think of a number of well-known authors and critics for whom English was not their first language, but who are well-regarded for their command of the language. To name just a few: Joseph Conrad (Polish), Vladimir Nabokov (Russian), Kazuo Ishiguro (Japanese), Tom Stoppard (Czech), John Simon (Serbian), Elif Shafak (Turkish). Some might also include Indian-born Salman Rushdie in this group, as well. [/quote]
I can understand that a person living in a foreign country for decades might go native at some point, as may have been the case with Conrad, and start thinking in that country's language.
I can also understand that an aspiring author (who may or may not have set foot in an English speaking country's soil) who wishes to achieve their claim to worldwide fame by writing their books in English, and doubtless employing a native English speaker as proofreader and making their life a misery in the process, but what I'm interested to know is how their works are actually received in the English speaking world?
How the ordinary literature fan in the US or UK (except for the extremely small minority of hipsters who go out of their way to watch 'Vietnamese arthouse films in film festivals' or wax lyrical about some obscure Peruvian or Bangladeshi author or enjoy the works of some ethno/techno jazz musician from Bahrain or Madagascar etc.) view their work? That would be the real litmus test, wouldn't it?
Granted, I don't know much about literature, and it would be sort of comparing apples and oranges, but I know that almost 98 percent of all rock and metal bands in Europe and elsewhere write their lyrics in English and naturally sing in English. It's understandable that they do this in order to reach a wider audience and in some cases their native language doesn't quite lend itself well to the type of music they're making. I grew up listening to German trash metal bands singing their songs in English, and it was years later, after having learned enough English, that I discovered that some of their lyrics were off, even laughable and their accents atrocious (but went very well with that type of music). Long story short, most of those bands have a huge fan base in South America (which is not surprising), Europe and the Middle East (Israel and Turkey), but they don't seem to have achieved the same level of success in the USA, UK or Australia.
As good as they are, The Scorpions have never been nor will ever be held in the same esteem as AC/DC in the eyes of an ordinary US rock fan. I don't have any proof to back this up of course (and in saying that I like the Scorpions better than AC/DC, though I'm not particularly a fan of either band), I just firmly feel that's the case. I hope this makes sense.

[Edited at 2025-04-03 12:57 GMT]

[Edited at 2025-04-03 14:23 GMT]

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | You may wish to reconsider

Siobhán Fulton — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 12:59:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Siobhán Fulton
Post title: You may wish to reconsider

[quote]Baran Keki wrote:

I believe non-native speakers shouldn't write in another language, no matter how well they think they have mastered that language.
[/quote]

Just off the top of my head, I can think of a number of well-known authors and critics for whom English was not their first language, but who are well-regarded for their command of the language. To name just a few: Joseph Conrad (Polish), Vladimir Nabokov (Russian), Kazuo Ishiguro (Japanese), Tom Stoppard (Czech), John Simon (Serbian), Elif Shafak (Turkish). Some might also include Indian-born Salman Rushdie in this group, as well.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | Convincing arguments

Baran Keki — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 08:01:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Baran Keki
Post title: Convincing arguments

[quote]Samuel Murray wrote:
I had a good, hard look at the question, but I don't see that. It just says "African". It would have said "black African" if it meant black African, surely. [/quote]
I hope you didn't make use of ChatGPT to reach this conclusion. It's funny how one immediately conjures up the image of a dark skinned (probably central African) person when asked anything about Africa. They don't tend to think of Moroccans, Libyans or Egyptians whose countries are also a part of the 'dark continent', but I suspect their literature is more considered to be 'Arabic' than 'African'.

[quote]Would you have accepted books written by African-born non-native English speakers who wrote in English? [/quote]
That's an interesting question. I've always been intrigued by your country of birth. South Africa is considered to be an 'English speaking country', but except for a very small minority of true native English speakers (presumably the people of British descent (ex colonialists) like Paton), white people (Boers) living there speak a funny brand of English, which sounds a lot like Dutch people speaking English, which is good, but weird, stilted, forced, and not at all natural, if you know what I mean? I believe you come from that stock as well? Do you really consider yourself a native English speaker? I mean, you write in English very well (as good as ChatGPT, if I may be so bold), and as a non-native English speaker I'd be hard put to know if you're truly a native speaker or not.
As for South African blacks, they seem to speak English like any other African like Ghanaians or Nigerians. Speaking of which, there are countries like Uganda, Jamaica, India etc. whose official language is 'English', but you get the same feeling when hearing them speak just as you do with white Afrikaners.
So, to answer your question (and I'd appreciate it if you answered mine), as a non-native looking to improve his English, I would be reluctant to consume any written or visual content (books, films, tv shows, pop culture in general) coming from non-native English speakers. That said, I occasionally enjoy stuff produced in such countries, like this one (note that this fascinating debate took place on national television):
[url removed]
I remember one Turkish wanna be author attempting to write her books in English, I avoided her books to spare myself a fantastically cringeworthy experience. I believe non-native speakers shouldn't write in another language, no matter how well they think they have mastered that language.

[quote] The fact that they write in English doesn't mean that their works sound British or American. [/quote]
I have no idea what South African English reads (or rather feels) like. Once again, I'd be interested to hear your insights about the SA English speakers.

[Edited at 2025-04-02 08:13 GMT]

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | @Baran II

Samuel Murray — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 10:29:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Samuel Murray
Post title: @Baran II

[quote]Baran Keki wrote:
I believe the question intends to find out whether we've read any translation from a black African writer who wrote in their native language. [/quote]
I had a good, hard look at the question, but I don't see that. It just says "African". It would have said "black African" if it meant black African, surely.

[quote]The majority of the writers you've listed appear to be white and South African/Rhodesian, and have written in English, not in some exotic African language. [/quote]
True, but books written in exotic languages would not be read in those languages anyway -- they'd be read in translation, so you're really reading a translator's interpretation of the African author's work. Would you have accepted books written by African-born non-native English speakers who wrote in English? How about books written by African-born black authors whose native language is English?

The authors mentioned by Maria Teresa all wrote in Portuguese, but their works are nothing like Brazilian or continental Portuguese works.

[quote]Personally, I've never read anything from Paton or Coetzee, but I wouldn't expect them to be any different from Steinbeck or some Aussie writer... [/quote]
South African authors who do not attempt to sanitize their writing for an international audience tend to write in a particular style. The same applies to Aussie writers. The fact that they write in English doesn't mean that their works sound British or American. But you're not alone in your view: until as recently as the 1960s, many South African authors who wrote in English considered English literature written by South Africans to be no different from that written by British or American authors and many of them felt that South African authors should be judged or measured by the style used by British or American authors.

[Edited at 2025-04-01 10:32 GMT]

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | @Baran

Samuel Murray — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 10:20:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Samuel Murray
Post title: @Baran

[quote]Baran Keki wrote:
[quote]Gerard Barry wrote:
[quote]Baran Keki wrote:
[quote]Dan Lucas wrote:
Athol Fugard, Alan Paton, Chinua Achebe, J. M. Coetzee, etc. No Nadine Gordimer, surprisingly. [/quote]
I believe the question intends to find out whether we've read any translation from a black African writer who wrote in their native language. [/quote]
If someone said that a black British or French writer wasn't properly European, they'd be accused of racism pretty fast. [/quote]
I knew you'd rear your ugly head soon enough... Take your fucking politics somewhere else. [/quote]
Baran, you started it. (-:

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | .

Gerard Barry — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 09:45:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Gerard Barry
Post title: .

[quote]Baran Keki wrote:

[quote]Gerard Barry wrote:

Interesting how you assume that a) all white South Africans or Zimbabweans are privileged and b) that being white means someone can't be properly African. If someone said that a black British or French writer wasn't properly European, they'd be accused of racism pretty fast. [/quote]
I knew you'd rear your ugly head soon enough... Take your fucking politics somewhere else. [/quote]

Politics? I was simply disagreeing with you.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | Indeed

Dan Lucas — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 21:02:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Dan Lucas
Post title: Indeed

[quote]Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei wrote:
So many books, so little time, so many competing affections. [/quote]
Ars longa vita brevis...

Dan

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | .

Baran Keki — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 18:18:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Baran Keki
Post title: .

[quote]Gerard Barry wrote:

Interesting how you assume that a) all white South Africans or Zimbabweans are privileged and b) that being white means someone can't be properly African. If someone said that a black British or French writer wasn't properly European, they'd be accused of racism pretty fast. [/quote]
I knew you'd rear your ugly head soon enough... Take your fucking politics somewhere else.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | .

Gerard Barry — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:03:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Gerard Barry
Post title: .

[quote]Baran Keki wrote:

[quote]Dan Lucas wrote:

A small number from the usual canon - Athol Fugard, Alan Paton, Chinua Achebe, J. M. Coetzee, etc. No Nadine Gordimer, surprisingly.
Ryszard Kapuscinski is also strongly associated in my mind with Africa, although of course he is not African.
Nothing recent, as you can see...

Dan
[/quote]
The majority of the writers you've listed appear to be white and South African/Rhodesian, and have written in English, not in some exotic African language.
I believe the question intends to find out whether we've read any translation from a black African writer who wrote in their native language.
Personally, I've never read anything from Paton or Coetzee, but I wouldn't expect them to be any different from Steinbeck or some Aussie writer... [/quote]

Interesting how you assume that a) all white South Africans or Zimbabweans are privileged and b) that being white means someone can't be properly African. If someone said that a black British or French writer wasn't properly European, they'd be accused of racism pretty fast.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | Not many I’m afraid

Lingua 5B — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 12:43:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Not many I’m afraid

I read Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, awesome book and captivating writing style.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | "An African in Greenland"

Siobhán Fulton — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 09:14:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Siobhán Fulton
Post title: "An African in Greenland"

By Tété-Michel Kpomassie, a Togolese author. It was originally written in French, but was available only in English in the US. I like "fish out of water" stories. A good read.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | I grew up in the Soviet Union

Denis Fesik — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 08:23:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Denis Fesik
Post title: I grew up in the Soviet Union

(Although most of the time I remember dates back to the perestroika). We had chrestomathies coming from all republics of the Union, from Vietnam, Cuba, China, Western, Eastern, Southern, Central, and Northern Africa, poets of Africa, etc., etc. The Soviet Union knew how to do friendship of peoples. We have a shirt made of heavy silk with beautiful embroidery, a national garment of Sierra Leone given to my father by his coursemate. He once met a guy wearing a similar shirt and made friends with him in an instance by telling where he was from

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | Probably only one end to end

Daniel Frisano — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 01:40:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Daniel Frisano
Post title: Probably only one end to end

"Chaka" by Thomas Mofolo, decades ago.

I must have quickly browsed Augustine at some point.

Also something about Wilbur Smith (if whites count), but I was done by page 3.

[Edited at 2025-03-31 11:25 GMT]

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | N/A

neilmac — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 18:56:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: neilmac
Post title: N/A

The only book I recall ever reading by an African author was Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It was a very long time ago and I don't remember anything about it.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | Lots

Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 18:48:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Post title: Lots

Plenty, but I'm cheating because I'm Ghanaian. I was particularly partial to a series of young adult books called "Pacesetters" from the African Writers' Series ( [url removed] ) which we all hungrily devoured. As an adult I don't read as much as I did when I was younger, but I did go to the bookstore not long ago where I saw plenty of titles. So many books, so little time, so many competing affections.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | Not White 'Privileged?' South Africans

Baran Keki — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 18:33:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Baran Keki
Post title: Not White 'Privileged?' South Africans

[quote]Dan Lucas wrote:

A small number from the usual canon - Athol Fugard, Alan Paton, Chinua Achebe, J. M. Coetzee, etc. No Nadine Gordimer, surprisingly.
Ryszard Kapuscinski is also strongly associated in my mind with Africa, although of course he is not African.
Nothing recent, as you can see...

Dan
[/quote]
The majority of the writers you've listed appear to be white and South African/Rhodesian, and have written in English, not in some exotic African language.
I believe the question intends to find out whether we've read any translation from a black African writer who wrote in their native language.
Personally, I've never read anything from Paton or Coetzee, but I wouldn't expect them to be any different from Steinbeck or some Aussie writer...

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | The Grass Is Singing

Dan Lucas — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 15:28:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Dan Lucas
Post title: The Grass Is Singing

[quote]Jorge Payan wrote:
If Tolkien counts as such: yes, I did.[/quote]
Doris Lessing, maybe?

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | South African?

Jorge Payan — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 15:18:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Jorge Payan
Post title: South African?

If Tolkien counts as such: yes, I did.

[Edited at 2025-03-30 15:19 GMT]

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | Not much

Dan Lucas — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 15:15:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Dan Lucas
Post title: Not much

A small number from the usual canon - Athol Fugard, Alan Paton, Chinua Achebe, J. M. Coetzee, etc. No Nadine Gordimer, surprisingly.
Ryszard Kapuscinski is also strongly associated in my mind with Africa, although of course he is not African.
Nothing recent, as you can see...

Dan

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors? | Yes

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 11:28:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Post title: Yes

I have great interest in everything related to Africa as I lived and worked in Angola for a while (before and after the Angolan independence). I have read some lusophone African writers: Mia Couto (Mozmbique), Luandino Vieira (Angola), Germano Almeida (Cape Verde), José Eduardo Agualusa (Angola), Paulina Chiziane (Mozambique). I read recently an interview given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to ‘Nouvel Obs’ and I became very interested in reading her books.

Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?

ProZ.com Staff — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 08:10:04 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?
Poster: ProZ.com Staff

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever read any books or writings by African authors?".

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