Map of Orisha

Many, if not all of us, know about Zamunda and Wakanda – fictional African nations from Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America and Marvel’s Black Panther. There are, of course, other fictional African countries in many books, films and series fromthe West. What about fictional African nations created by African writers? Well, here’s a list of some African nations (and some towns), including mythical lands that are either fully, or partly, inspired by an African country or countries.

Free Republic of Abruria in Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o (2006)

In Ngugi wa Thiong'o's 784-page farce, we follow the demise of the dictator known as “the Ruler” in the mythical Free Republic of Aburiria, as he battles with an unemployed young man who embraces the mantle of a magician.

Afromacoland in Chief the Honourable Minister by T.M. Aluko (1970)

Aluko’s fourth novel Chief the Honourable Minister, tells the story of Alade Moses, a school principal who has been appointed Minister of Works in the corrupt government of the newly independent, and fictional, republic of Afromacoland.

Alcacia in Making Wolf by Tade Thompson (2015)

"Alcacia isn't kind to anyone", is one of many things you need to know about the fictional West Africa nation Thompson creates for his debut and Kitschie award-winning novel Making Wolf. Weston Kogi and his sister fled Alcacia in the middle of a civil war many years ago, but now Weston is back following the death of his aunt – who cared for him and his sister after their mother passed away, and ensured their safe passage to London.

Ewawa In The Death Certificate by Alobwed'Epie (2004)

The Death Certificate resolves around Mongo Meka - Treasurer General, and Acting Director General of the Central Bank of fictional Ewawa, who embezzles a ton of money from his nation and people.

Kangan in Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe (1984)

Chris, Ikem and Sam are all friends in the fictional West African nation of Kangan, newly independent of British rule. Sam is the Sandhurst-educated President of Kangan, Chris is a member of the president's cabinet for life, and Ikem is editor of the state-run newspaper.

Katamalanasia in Life and a Half by Sony Lab’ou Tansi (1977, English translation in 2011)

Sony Lab‘ou Tansi tells the tale of a cannibalistic dictator, The Providential Guide - the latest in a series of cannibalistic dictators - who rules over the fake republic of Katamalanasia, and has captured Martial, the leader of the opposition, and his family.

Kos in Tochi Onyebuchi's Beasts made of Night (2017)

The walled city Kos - based on Lagos in Nigeria - is ruled by the elite Kaya family and dominated by the priest-like Mages who can magically call forth sin from a sinner in the form of sin-beasts. Then, there are the sin-eating young aki. Seventeen-year old Taj is the strongest of the aki, but with big sins bursting to be set free, soon Taj is running for his life.

Orïsha in Children of Blood and Bones by Tomi Adeyemi (2018)

A 525-page epic set in the world of Orïsha, a land that once shone with magic until the ruthless King Saran killed the maji, leaving the young Zeile without her mother and her people without hope. Now, there are only divîners, people with latent magical abilities, physically represented by white hair. Zeile now has a chance to bring back magic with the help of a rogue princess.

Olondria in A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar (2013)

In Samnatar's debut, Jevick, the pepper merchant’s son, has been raised on stories of Olondria, a distant land where books are as common as they are rare in his home—but which his mother calls the Ghost Country. When his father dies and Jevick takes his place on the yearly selling trip to Olondria, Jevick’s life is as close to perfect as he can imagine. Just as he revels in Olondria’s Rabelaisian Feast of Birds, he is pulled drastically off course and becomes haunted by the ghost of an illiterate young girl.

In an interview with Geoff Ryman on Strange Horizons, Samatar explains the influences behind Olondria:

I sort of had the Ottoman Empire in my head—the Ottoman Empire of the Tulip Era, if the printing press had taken off. But honestly, Olondria is a hodgepodge. It’s heavily influenced by a trip I took before writing the book: I spent a couple of months traveling in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. And it also draws significantly on Egypt, especially Alexandria, where I did most of the major revisions. The Tea Islands, where Jevick lives, are influenced by South Sudan, where I was living when I wrote the first draft.

The Outzone in Taty Went West by Nikhil Singh's (2015)

The Outzone was a place where people went to escape. It was large enough for anyone to lose themselves in, a feverish sanctuary for those seeking to escape their lives

In Nikhil Singh’s debut Taty runs away from her home in the suburbs of the Lowlands Into the Outzone “a forest of dead time, a necrotic wonderland, a province of waking coma where time itself had grown sickly and died.” to escape from something terrible she has done. Taty is around fifteen/sixteen at the beginning of the story. Once in the Outzone she is captured by Miss Muppet, and taken to the malicious imp, Alphonse Guava's, lair where she meets a number of interesting characters including Number Nun (a robotic, sex slave nun), the zombie Typhoid Mary, The Sugar Twins - a pair of 'Detachable Siamese', and the overweight Michelle 'nailed to a large wooden cross'.

As Singh explains during an interview with Geoff Ryman on Strange Horizons:

Zululand is a model for the Outzone. The town of Namanga Mori is based on Durban, which is full of art deco architecture. It has the strongest strain of marijuana in the world. It doesn't feel like Africa, but is this weird Jurassic town. It feels like the woods are full of dinosaurs. The mountains nearby, the foothills of the Drakensberg cast long shadows so that twilight lasts for an hour and a half. The place is full of predators—sharks, black mambas, and 'tokoloshes'.

Invisible town of Tukwan in Woman of the Aeroplanes by Kojo Laing (1988)

Surrounded by mist, invisible to the corrupt power centre of Kumasi, Tukwan is a unique space. To qualify to live in Tukwan, a person must be different, non-conformist – ‘everybody had to have one element of originality before he or she could continue to stay in the town’

There are also unnamed African country’s, including the unnamed African state which has just attained independence in A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe (1966), aand the post-apocalyptic African country in Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor (2010).

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Illustration by Ansellia Kulikku

I've been thinking a lot more about mental health, and particularly mental health in fiction ... and I remembered this intro from a list on Bustle from a few years ago indicating how mental health was 'even less understood in the past than it is today':

The Victorians loved stashing mad women up in towers or attics, where they could 'slow-w-wly' peel the wallpaper from the walls or moan and groan with such abandon that it would frighten the young governess trying to catch some sleep down below. Later, books would introduce readers to evil nurses, forced lobotomies and botched attempts at electro-shock therapy.

In recent years, we have of course seen an improvement in how mental health is understood in general, and within literature there has also been a shift in how it is written. Still, I was curious about mental health in African fiction – how it is now being portrayed, and not necessarily how it may have been portrayed in the past.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Mental health – particularly how it is acknowledged in the American and Nigerian context – is touched upon a number of times through Ifemelu in Adichie’s third novel, Americanah. Ifemelu appears to experience depression at different points in the story, but refuses to see it as that – because she didn’t feel that was what she had. Adichie also stated during a conversation she had withTrevor Noah how she also wanted to address the stigma associated with mental health in her book:

I think it is important to be honest about what it means to be human, that we are happy and we love but also we go through dark times. No one’s happy all the time.

Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah

In Willow Weep for Me, Ghanaian-American writer, editor, journalist and public speaker Meri Nana-Ama Danquah opens up about her personal struggle with depression, the hidden roots of her depression, the effect it had on her life, and her ability to cope with her depression through music, meditation and vigilant monitoring.

Quiet Violence of Dreams by K Sello Duiker

Duiker’s second novel – set in Cape Town – follows Tshepo-Angelo, a young student at Rhodes trying to make sense of a traumatic past in a violent country who gets admitted into Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital for cannabis-induced psychosis. He escapes but is returned to the hospital and completes his rehabilitation, earns his release - and promptly terminates his studies.

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

Emezi’s debut novel has been described as centring on a young woman, Ada – who has a form of dissociative identity disorder, as she has multiple realities and selves. However, in writing Freshwater Emezi explained in an interview with NPR wanting to look beyond Western understanding of mental health:

I wanted to see what it would be like to look at life through the lens of a different reality - something that was centred more in Igbo spirituality than in Western concepts of mental health, for example.

Penumbra by Songeziwe Mahlangu

Mahlangu’s debut novel – winner of the 2014 Etisalat Prize for Nigerian Literature – set in Cape Town follows Mangaliso Zolo, recent graduate, working in a corporate job during the week and on weekends living a life of drink and drugs. Manga also struggles with his mental health and one day suffers from a nervous breakdown.

Butterfly Fish by Irenosen Okojie

In Okojie’s debut novel, Joy, has recently (and unexpectedly) lost her mother, Queenie. It has just been Joy and Queenie from day one – Joy never knew her father. It’s clear Joy is struggling with her mother's sudden death. Joy is also going through depression and Okojie captures her struggles with depression, along with the loss of her mother, in a way that allows you to feel for Joy, without feeling sorry for her. Joy is a broken character - there is no doubt about that - but she is able in some way to deal with the loss in her life through her neighbour – Mrs Harris - a fascinating character, who has her own secrets.

The Opposite House by Helen Oyeyemi

in The Opposite House, 25-year-old Maja - a black Cuban girl whose family migrated to London when she was seven is struggling with depression and anxiety, what she calls her “personal hysteric”. Oyeyemi, herself, has spoken candidly about her depression.

The Fatuous State of Severity by Phumlani Pikoli

Pikolo wrote his self-published collection of short stories while undergoing treatment for depression. A new edition was published earlier this year by PanMacmillan. The story, To Shy Away in Silence was first written in 2015 and follows a nameless character who at the beginning of the story is bored, depressed and contemplating taking his life.

There’s a lightness within me that allows me to imagine and enjoy. Perhaps now is the time to take this final step I keep on fucking procrastinating about. Tshepo’s friends giggle as I approach the edge. I stand there looking down, imagining what my thoughts would be as I fall. What would kill me? Would it be the shock or impact? I raise a foot halfway over the ledge. One of Tshepo’s friends screams, and the others begin to scream too. I realise how inconsiderate I’m being by trying to kill the buzz. That’s why the pills are on my counter; trying to take my life’s something I need to do in private.

Pikoli also adapted the story into a short film – Our Lives Are Bought.

Azanian Bridges by Nick Wood

In Wood’s alternative South Africa we find the two main protagonists - Sibusiso Mchunu, a young amaZulu man about to start his first year at university and Dr. Martin van Denter, a white neuropsychologist. Their lives intertwine following Sibusiso suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and being sent to a mental health institution after seeing a friend of his shot by the security police during a peaceful protest. Dr. van Denter becomes his psychologist.

20:29 No Comments

Africa Writes Headline Events

Africa Writes - the Royal African Society's annual literature festival - is back. Well, it will soon come. It's taking place from Friday 29 June to Sunday 1 July, at the British Library and Rich Mix. Now in its seventh year (my, how time flies!), this year's festival will bring together 'over 50 brilliant contemporary authors and influential voices from Africa and its diaspora' and will focus 'on themes of identity, love (self and for others, with an emphasis on queerness) and powerful femininity'.

The Festival opens Friday 29 June at the British Library with Yomi Sode's one-man show COAT, which explores themes of 'identity, migration and displacement while cooking up a stew live on stage' (is that a literal or figurative stew?). The Festival's other two headline events include 'the womxn of colour poetry group Octavia' and their Wakanda-themed event at Rich Mix 30 June and Somali-British poet Warsan Shire in conversation about her work, 1 July.

There are also very exciting book launches happening at the Festival with some amazingly wonderful books. These include Leila Abouela's short-story collection Elsewhere, Home exploring themes of identity, migration and displacement, Ayesha Haruna Attah's historical fiction set in 19th century Ghana The Hundred Wells of Salaga, and Panashe Chigumadzi's long-form essayThese Bones Will Rise Again combining bold reportage, memoir and critical analysis on Zimbabwe's recent 'coup that wasn't a coup'. In total, there will be 8 book launches at the Festival ... and because if you've been following this blog long enough, you know I love me some book covers, I decided to give the books at this year's festival some cover love.

Delve into some history with the first biography of Sierra Leonean writer A. B.. C. Meriman-Labor and with Attah's historical fiction in Ghana during the height of the slave trade at the end of the 19th century

Young writers from Zimbabwe through fiction and long-form essay presenting new ways of telling the nation's story and discussing its future

Fiction exploring spirituality and religion, the metaphysics of identity and mental health, as well as a memoir offering a highly personal series of contemporary snapshots of same gender loving Africans.

Short story and poetry collections

But, wait? There's more! As there are some other books I am really excited about that will be featured at the festival, including Odokonyero from Writivism, which presents new work from young writers, La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono - the first book by an Equatorial Guinean woman to be translated into English (translated by Lawrence Schimel) and the edited collection She Called Me Woman with engaging stories from Nigerian queer women.