African literature is amazing with its diverse forms, styles and languages. Through it we get glimpses of Africa - tradition, culture, history, myth and more. Unfortunately, majority of the wonderful work from Africa remains largely unknown and celebrated. In 2001, the Zimbabwe International Book Fair compiled a list of Africa's 100 Best Books to celebrate the achievements of African writers over the last century and increase awareness and knowledge of books and writings by African authors. Here are the top 12 (Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy is counted as 1). Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th century is here. If you are interested in reading some of these amazing works, Kinnareads has a created a list of the creative writing books that are still in print. Happy reading!
