Great African Reads discussion

Not Africa-specific, though inclusive of many African writers, I found the following list of 'Recommended Literary Fiction on Development' from this paper (pdf) linked in a comment on the Oxfam Poverty to Power blog. Of course, the list begins with Things Fall Apart.

RECOMMENDED READING LIST OF LITERARY FICTION ON DEVELOPMENT

NB/ All books are English-language or translations. Different and other language editions of these works may exist.

• Achebe, C. (1958) Things Fall Apart (London: Heinemann).
• Ali, M. (2003) Brick Lane (London: Doubleday).
• Amado, J. (1965 [1943]) The Violent Land (New York: Knopf).
• Ballard, J.G. (1994) Rushing to Paradise (London: Harper Collins).
• Ballard, J.G. (1987) The Day of Creation (London: Victor Gollancz).
• Borges, J.L. (2000 [1964]) Labyrinths: Selected Short Stories and Other Writings
(London: Penguin Books).
• Boyd, W. (1982) A Good Man in Africa (London: Penguin).
• Boyd, W. (1991) Brazzaville Beach (London: Penguin).
• Brunner, J. (1968) Stand on Zanzibar (New York: Ballantine).
• Buck, P.S. (2004 [1931]) The Good Earth (New York: Simon and Schuster).
• Camus, A. (1994 [1948]) The Plague (New York: First Vintage International).
• Carpentier, A. (1989 [1957]) The Kingdom of This World (New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux).
• Cohen, A. (1996 [1968]) Belle du Seigneur: A Novel (New York: Viking).
• Condé, M. (1996 [1984]) Segu (New York: Penguin).
• Conrad, J. (1990 [1902]) Heart of Darkness (New York: Dover Publications).
• Conrad, J. (1983 [1904] Nostromo (London: Penguin).
• Darko, A. (1995) Beyond the Horizon (London: Heinemann).
• de Bernières, L. (1990) The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts (London: Secker and
Warburg).
• Desai, A. (2000) Diamond Dust and Other Stories (London: Chatto and Windus).
• Farrell, J. G. (1973) The Siege of Krishnapur (London: George Weidenfeld and
Nicholson).
• Fielding, H. (1994) Cause Celeb (London: Picador).
• Forster, E.M. (2000 [1924]) A Passage to India (London: Penguin).
• Frisch, M. (1959 [1957]) Homo Faber (New York: Harcourt).
• Fuentes, C. (1989 [1987]) Christopher Unborn (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
• Galgut, D. (2004) The Good Doctor (London: Atlantic Books).
• Garcia Marquez, G. (1997 [1985[) Love in the Time of Cholera (New York: Knopf).
• Garcia Marquez, G. (1995 [1967]) One Hundred Years of Solitude (New York: Knopf).
• Genet, J. (1988 [1958]) The Blacks: A Clown Show (New York: Grove Press).
• Gordimer, N. (1978) The Conservationist (London: Penguin).
• Green, G. (1991 [1955]) The Quiet American (London: Penguin).
• Kadaré, I. (2005 [1981]) The Palace of Dreams (London: Harvill Press).
• Kingsolver, B. (1998) The Poisonwood Bible (New York: Harper Collins).
• Kipling, R. (1987 [1901]) Kim (London: Penguin).
• Kourouma, A. (1997 [1970]) The Suns of Independence (Teaneck: Holmes and Meier
Publishers).
• Kourouma, A. (2001 [1998]) Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals (Charlottesville:
University of Virginia Press).
• Kourouma, A. (2005 [2000]) Allah is not obliged (London: Heinemann).
• Lahiri, J. (1999) Interpreter of Maladies (New York: Houghton Mifflin).
• Lapierre, D. (1985) The City of Joy (New York: Warner Books).
• Le Carré, J. (2000) The Constant Gardener (New York: Scribner).
• Maalouf, A. ([1983]) The Crusades Through Arab Eyes (London: Saqi Books).
• Mahfouz, N. (1993 [1966]) Adrift on the Nile (New York: Anchor Books).
• Mahjoub, J. (1989) Navigation of a Rainmaker (London: Heinemann).
• Mahjoub, J. (1994) Wings of Dust (London: Heinemann).
• Mistry, R. (1996) A Fine Balance (London: Faber and Faber).
• Molteno, M. (1992) A Shield of Coolest Air (London: Shola Books).
• Mwangi, M. (1976) Going Down River Road (London: Heinemann).
• Naipaul, V. S. (2001 [1961]) A House for Mr. Biswas (New York: First Vintage
International).
• Narayan, R.K. (1993 [1976]) The Painter of Signs (London: Penguin).
• Neruda, P. (2003 [1947]) Residence on Earth (London: Souvenir Press).
• Neruda, P. (1993 [1950]) Canto General (Berkeley: University of California Press).
• Okri, B. ([1991]) The Famished Road (New York: Anchor Books).
• Ondaatje, M. (2000) Anil’s Ghost (London: Bloomsbury).
• Ousmane, S. (1972) The Money Order (London: Heinemann).
• Rush, N. (1992) Mating (New York: Vintage).
• Rushdie, S. (1981) Midnight's Children (London: Picador).
• Saith, V. (1993) A Suitable Boy (London: Phoenix).
• Sepulveda, L. (1993 [1989]) The Old Man who read Love Stories (New York: Harcourt).
• Shukla, S. (1992 [1968]) Raag Darbari (New Delhi: Penguin India).
• Soueif, A. (1999) The Map of Love (London: Bloomsbury).
• Soyinka, W. (1963) A Dance of the Forests (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
• Tweedie, J. (1987) Internal Affairs (London: Penguin).
• Vargas Llosa, M. (1975 [1969]) Conversations in the Cathedral (New York: Harper and
Row).
• Walcott, D. (1990) Omeros (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
• wa Thiong’o, Ngugi (1977) Petals of Blood (London: Penguin).
• wa Thiong’o, Ngugi (1989) Matigari (London: Heinemann).
• Xingjian, G. (2000 [1990]) Soul Mountain (New York: Harper Collins).

This is a fantastic resource. Thanks Tinea!

Thank you for sharing. Much appreciated--and I'll share with others too.