16 African books on climate
Here are some interesting and informative African books on climate. Every year on April 22nd, countries across the globe come together to demonstrate their support and commitment to the natural world around us. Earth Day was first celebrated in the U.S. in 1970, but is now internationally recognized by over 150 countries.
African writers and scholars have always been concerned with the environment. So as you think about how you intend to contribute towards a more sustainable planet, here are some books to keep in mind, as originally published by Brittle Paper.
1. Every Leaf A Hallelujah
When her mother becomes ill, Mangoshi knows only one thing can help her – a special flower that grows deep in the forest.
The little girl needs all her courage when she sets out alone to find and bring back the flower, and all her kindness to overpower the dangers she encounters on the quest. (Head of Zeus/2021)
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2. A Bigger Picture
Leading climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate brings her fierce, fearless spirit, new perspective, and superstar bona fides to the biggest issue of our time in one of the best African books on climate.
In ‘A Bigger Picture’, her first book, she shares her story as a young Ugandan woman who sees that her community bears disproportionate consequences to the climate crisis. (Houghton/2021)
3. As Long As Trees Take Root in the Earth
These compelling poems by novelist and essayist Alain Mabanckou conjure nostalgia for an African childhood where the fauna, flora, sounds, and smells evoke snapshots of a life forever gone. (Seagull/2021)
4. In the Company of Men
Two boys go hunting in a forest, shooting down bats and cooking them over an open fire. Within a month, they are dead, bodies ravaged by an insidious disease that decimates their village and quickly spreads beyond.
In a series of moving snapshots, Tadjo illustrates the terrible extent of the Ebola epidemic through the eyes of those affected. (Other/2021)
5. Do You Dream of Terra-Two?
A century ago, an astronomer discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star. She predicted that one day humans would travel there to build a utopia. Today, ten astronauts are leaving everything behind to find it.
Four are veterans of the twentieth century’s space-race. And six are teenagers who’ve trained for this mission most of their lives. (Gallery/Saga Press/2019)
6. Who Fears Death
In a post-apocalyptic Africa, the world has changed in many ways; yet in one region genocide between tribes continues.
A woman who has survived the annihilation of her village and a terrible rape wanders into the desert, hoping to die. Instead, she gives birth to an angry baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand. Gripped by the certainty that her daughter is different—special—she names her Onyesonwu, which means “Who fears death?” in an ancient language. (DAW/2014)
7. How Beautiful We Were
Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, one of African books on climate (a novel) tells of a people living in fear amid environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company.
Promises of cleanup and financial reparations to the villagers are made—and ignored. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. Their struggle will last for decades and come at a steep price. (Random House/2021)
8. This Mournable Body
In ‘This Mournable Body’, Tsitsi Dangarembga returns to the protagonist of her acclaimed first novel, Nervous Conditions, to examine how the hope and potential of a young girl and a fledgling nation can sour over time and become a bitter and floundering struggle for survival. (Graywolf/2018)
9. Oil on Water
In the oil-rich and environmentally devastated Nigerian Delta, the wife of a British oil executive has been kidnapped.
Two journalists―a young upstart, Rufus, and a once-great, now disillusioned veteran, Zaq―are sent to find her.
In a story rich with atmosphere and taut with suspense, ‘Oil on Water’ explores the conflict between idealism and cynical disillusionment in a journey full of danger and unintended consequences. (W. W. Norton/2011)
10. The Tears of the Earth
‘The Tears of the Earth’, without pretense, practically holds court for environmental or eco-concerns with global ripples, staking a legitimate claim as a landmark tributary to the mainstream discourse and current debates on global warming and climate change. (Langaa RPCIG/2018)
11. Eco-Critical Literature: Regreening African Landscapes
Eco-Critical Literature: Regreening African Landscapescritically examines the representations, constructions, and imaginings of the relationship between the human and non-human worlds in contemporary African literature and culture. (African Heritage Press/2013)
12. A Month and A Day & Letters
This new edition gives an insight into Ken Saro-Wiwa’s ideology, his own record of arrest in July 1993 and imprisonment, the story of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), the struggle against the multinational Shell, the Nigerian military dictatorship, his criticisms and questioning of a corrupt regime which eventually led to his execution with eight others. (Ayebia/2005)
13. Ken Saro-Wiwa (Ohio Short Histories of Africa)
Ken Saro-Wiwa (Ohio Short Histories of Africa) sheds light on his many legacies and is above all about Saro-Wiwa the man, not just Saro-Wiwa the symbol.
Roy Doron and Toyin Falola portray a man who not only was formed by the complex forces of ethnicity, race, class, and politics in Nigeria, but who drove change in those same processes. (OUP/2016)
14. Naturalizing Africa: Ecological Violence, Agency, and Postcolonial Resistance in African Literature
In this African book on climate, Cajetan Iheka analyzes how African literary texts have engaged with pressing ecological problems in Africa, including the Niger Delta oil pollution in Nigeria, ecologies of war in Somalia, and animal abuses. (Cambridge UP/2017)
15. War Girls
The year is 2172. Climate change and nuclear disasters have rendered much of earth unlivable. Only the lucky ones have escaped to space colonies in the sky.
Two sisters, Onyii and Ify, dream of more. Their lives have been marked by violence and political unrest. Still, they dream of peace, of hope, of a future together. And they’re willing to fight an entire war to get there. (Razorbill/2019)
16. An/other pastoral
In the last but not least of African books on climate, history, belonging and race converge with climate crisis, ecosystems and care in these startling and vibrant poems by Tjawangwa Dema.
With illustrations by Tebogo Cranwell and a foreword by Chris Abani, an/other pastoral is a compelling collection that refuses easy representations of where nature can be found, and what it means to be human now. (No Bindings/2022)