Recommendations? YA fiction from/in Africa

[Liralen]

What YA fiction set in Africa or by African authors can you recommend? A lot of my recent reading (There Was A Country, Endangered, Born in the Big Rains, I Shall Not Hate) has been quite violent and anxiety-provoking, so ideally I'm looking for something relatively light, but I'll take what I can get.

I've read a handful of YA African novels, but most of them are by non-African authors: the Spud books (South African author), The Good Braider, Now Is the Time for Running... Please enlighten me: what am I missing?

[Elizabeth]

I am not sure that it exactly qualifies for YA fiction, I would certainly recommend The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind- a wonderful true account of a Malawian boy who overcame significant obstacles to bring progress to his life and his village. A rare story of hope coming out of Africa.The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

[Robert]

WWW.robert-mwangi.com

[Manu]

Liralen wrote: "What YA fiction set in Africa or by African authors can you recommend? A lot of my recent reading (There Was A Country, Endangered, Born in the Big Rains, I Shall Not Hate) has been quite violent a..."

You might check
http://www.africaaccessreview.org/aar...

though I have to say that after two years they have failed to review my Brave Music of a Distant Drum:

http://www.africaaccessreview.org/aar...

Many YA novels published in African countries never make it to the international market.

Check, for instance:

http://www.codecan.org/burt-award-africa

I'm not aware that any of the winning books have been published abroad. CODE has plans for making them available as E-books but implementation is taking ages, so much so that I'm contemplating self-publishing my Akosua and Osman on CreateSpace and, perhaps, Kindle.

[Mary]

Liralen wrote: "What YA fiction set in Africa or by African authors can you recommend? A lot of my recent reading (There Was A Country, Endangered, Born in the Big Rains, I Shall Not Hate) has been quite violent a..."

True Murder by Yaba Badoe

No Turning Back, 1995, by Beverley Naidoo ***
http://www.maryokekereviews.blogspot....

Imagine This by Sade Adeniran
http://www.maryokekereviews.blogspot....

Powder Necklace
http://www.maryokekereviews.blogspot....

Tears of the Lonely
http://www.maryokekereviews.blogspot....

Purple Hibiscus
http://www.maryokekereviews.blogspot....

Susan's Diary
http://www.maryokekereviews.blogspot....

Grief Child by Lawrence Darmani (currently reading)

Cheers.

[Beverly]

I would also recommend:

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okoragor

[Liralen]

Thanks, all! Some really interesting-looking books.

Manu, good point about markets and availability -- very few of the books on those lists are on Goodreads, let along at my (very well-stocked) library.

[Carolien]

The Garbage King is good set in Ethiopia.
Inkarna could be YA.
Have a look at Lauren Beukes.

[Muphyn]

Some really good suggestions here! I read a lot of YA but most of it by Australian, American or European writers. The above suggestions should help expand my African YA experience. :)