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Christopher Farai Charamba The Reader
Last week Thursday the world celebrated International Women’s Day under the theme “Press for Progress”. “A strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive,” is how the International Women’s Day website described it.

Contemporary African literature is one area that has seen the growth, recognition and brilliance of women. African women both on the continent and in the Diaspora have dominated the literary scene, winning awards and international honours for their literal works.

This week, The Reader decided to look at a few African women whose work deserves to be read. There are many to choose from and this list is only a small bit of the growing list of brilliant female African writers.

Tsitsi Dangarembga
A household name and an internationally recognised author, Tsitsi Dangarembga is one of the prominent literary figures in Zimbabwe. Her book “Nervous Conditions” won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1989 and is a brilliant piece of work that deals with themes in African feminism and post-colonial literature. Not only did Dangarembga write a compelling novel but also produced two brilliant films – one of which is perhaps the most famous Zimbabwean film of all time – “Neria” and “Everyone’s Child”.

Petina Gappah
Another Zimbabwean writer whose work has won awards and translated into several languages. Gappah has published three books thus far, two collections of short stories, “An Elegy for Easterly” and “Rotten Row”; and one novel, “The Book of Memory”. Her books contain characters that are uncannily familiar to any Zimbabwean, some of whom one could easily be a family member. They are a commentary on various aspects of Zimbabwean life over the last two decades, scripted in a way that will bring laughter and tears in equal measure.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Perhaps the most famous name on this list and the most renowned contemporary African writer. Adichie has written a number of books from the historical fiction novel “Half of Yellow Sun”, which talks on the Biafran war to her essay “We Should All Be Feminists” where she stresses the importance of teaching girls and boys the same things as a means to achieve gender equality, equity and parity. Her work has won a number of awards, been adapted by US siger/songwriter Beyonce, as well as made into film, one of which will be written by Hollywood sensation Danai Gurira and produced by Lupita Nyong’o.

Nnedi Okorafor
This Nigerian writer is dominating the Afrofuturist scene with her novels which include the “Binti” trilogy, “Who Fears Death” and “Akata Witch”. Her writing paints African Traditional Religions, mysticism and magic in a wonderfully compelling light. Okorafor has won 10 awards thus far for her writing including the the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in 2008 and the World Fantasy Award for best novel in 2011. In 2017 it was announced that her novel “Who Fears Death” was selected by HBO for a series adaptation with George R. R. Martin as an executive producer.

Yaa Gyasi
The debut novel “Homegoing” published in 2016 won Ghanaian-American writer Yaa Gyasi a PEN/Hemmingway Award for first book of fiction. This novel touches on the connections between Africa and the Diaspora by charting the history of one family that was separated by the slave trade. Gyasi put together an incredibly moving story.

Tomi Adeyemi
This new writer of young adult fiction recently received a seven-figure deal for the publishing and film rights to her trilogy, the first book of which is titled “Children of Blood and Bone”. Adeyemi’s work draws on African mythology, something that she studied and is another that brings a positive light to African Traditional Religions and magic.

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
This Ugandan writer recently received the Windham-Campbell Prize 2018 for her debut novel “Kintu” which some publishers allegedly rejected at one point for being too African. The prize, considered one of the most lucrative in the literature, is worth $165 000. Makumbi’s novel follows the trajectory of a Ugandan family dealing with a curse over the period of 250 years.

Dambisa Moyo
In the non-fiction section, Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo has written books that have challenged the world of international development. Her first book “Dead Aid” is a critique of the international aid accusing it of creating a dependency and ultimately perpetuating poverty on the continent. Moyo’s other works, “How the West Was Lost” and “Winner Take All” look at the economic choices and practices of the West and China respectively that have brought them to where they are today.