21 Best 「african」 Books of 2024| Books Explorer

In this article, we will rank the recommended books for african. The list is compiled and ranked by our own score based on reviews and reputation on the Internet.
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Table of Contents
  1. The Middle Daughter
  2. Mama's Sleeping Scarf
  3. Call and Response
  4. Small by Small: Becoming a Doctor in 1990s Nigeria
  5. Maame
  6. I Am Still With You: A Reckoning with Silence, Inheritance, and History
  7. Tools Of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers
  8. The Stolen Daughters of Chibok: Tragedy and Resilience in Nigeria's Northeast
  9. Daughter in Exile: A Novel
  10. A Spell of Good Things: A novel
Other 11 books
No.1
100

The Middle Daughter

Unigwe, Chika
Dzanc Books

A lush, powerful tale of family and sisterhood from award-winning author Chika Unigwe, perfect for fans of Bernardine Evaristo and Tayari Jones\\nUdodi’s death was the beginning of the raging storm but at that moment, we thought that the worst had already happened, and that life would treat us with more kindness.\\nWhen seventeen-year-old Nani loses her older sister and then her father in quick succession, her world spins off its axis. Isolated and misunderstood by her grieving mother and sister, she’s drawn to an itinerant preacher, a handsome self-proclaimed man of God who offers her a new place to belong. All too soon, Nani finds herself estranged from her family, tethered to her abusive husband by children she loves but cannot fully comprehend. She must find the courage to break free and wrestle her life back—without losing what she loves most.\\nA modern reimagining of the myth of Hades and Persephone within a Nigerian family, The Middle Daughter charts Nani’s journey to freedom and homecoming.

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No.2
100

Mama's Sleeping Scarf

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Knopf

The first children's book from the best-selling author of We Should All Be Feminists and Americanah--a tender story about a little girl's love for her mother's scarf, and the adventures she shares with it and her whole family Chino loves the scarf that her mama ties around her hair at night. But when Mama leaves for the day, what happens to her scarf? Chino takes it on endless adventures! Peeking through the colorful haze of the silky scarf, Chino and her toy bunny can look at her whole family as they go through their routines.  With stunning illustrations from Joelle Avelino, Mama's Sleeping Scarf is a celebration of family, and a touching story about the everyday objects that remind us of the ones we love.

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No.3
88

Call and Response

Moeng, Gothataone
Oneworld Publications

Gothataone Moeng. Place Of Publication From Publisher's Website. Electronic Reproduction. Ann Arbor, Mi Available Via World Wide Web.

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No.5
83

Maame

George, Jessica
St Martins Pr

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! • A Today Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick • A February 2023 Indie Next Pick"Sparkling." ―The New York Times"An utterly charming and deeply moving portrait of the joys―and the guilt―of trying to find your own way in life." ―Celeste Ng, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Our Missing Hearts"Lively, funny, poignant . . . Prepare to fall in love with Maddie. I did!" ―Bonnie Garmus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lessons in ChemistryMaame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi but in my case, it means woman.It’s fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting.So when her mum returns from her latest trip, Maddie seizes the chance to move out of the family home and finally start living. A self-acknowledged late bloomer, she’s ready to experience some important “firsts”: She finds a flat share, says yes to after-work drinks, pushes for more recognition in her career, and throws herself into the bewildering world of internet dating. But when tragedy strikes, Maddie is forced to face the true nature of her unconventional family, and the perils―and rewards―of putting her heart on the line.Smart, funny, and affecting, Jessica George's Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism, to female pleasure, the complexity of love, and the life-saving power of friendship. Most important, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures―and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong."Meeting Maame feels like falling in love for the first time: warm, awkward, joyous, a little bit heartbreaking and, most of all, unforgettable." ―Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming

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No.6
83

"Powerful and transcendent" --Chigozie Obioma  "Both epic and intimate" --​Margo Jefferson A deeply moving, lyrical journey through the author's homeland of Nigeria, in search of the truth about his disappeared uncle and the history of a war that shaped him, his family, and a nation In inimitable, rhythmic prose, the author and winner of the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize Emmanuel Iduma tells the story of his return to Nigeria, where he grew up, after years of living in New York. He traveled home with an elusive mission: to learn the fate of his uncle Emmanuel, his namesake, who disappeared in the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s. A conflict that left so many families broken, the war remains at the margins of the history books, almost taboo to discuss. To find answers, Iduma stopped in city after city throughout the former Biafra region, reconnecting with relatives dear and distant to probe their memories, prowling university libraries to furtively photocopy illicit books, and visiting half-abandoned monuments along the highway. Perhaps, he realized, if he could understand how his father grieved the loss of a brother in the war, he might learn how to grieve his late father in turn.   His is also the story of countless families across the country and across the world who will never have answers or proper funerals for their loved ones. It's a story about the birth of an artist, about writing itself as an act both healing and political, even dangerous. And it's a story about family history and legacy, and all the questions the dead leave unanswered. How much of the author's identity is wrapped up in this inheritance? And what does it mean to return home, when the people who define it are gone?   Equal parts memoir, national history, and political reckoning, I Am Still With You is a profoundly personal story of collective loss and making peace with the unknowable.

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No.7
83

The latest groundbreaking tome from Tim Ferriss, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek.From the author:“For the last two years, I’ve interviewed more than 200 world-class performers for my podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show. The guests range from super celebs (Jamie Foxx, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc.) and athletes (icons of powerlifting, gymnastics, surfing, etc.) to legendary Special Operations commanders and black-market biochemists. For most of my guests, it’s the first time they’ve agreed to a two-to-three-hour interview. This unusual depth has helped make The Tim Ferriss Show the first business/interview podcast to pass 100 million downloads.“This book contains the distilled tools, tactics, and ‘inside baseball’ you won’t find anywhere else. It also includes new tips from past guests, and life lessons from new ‘guests’ you haven’t met.“What makes the show different is a relentless focus on actionable details. This is reflected in the questions. For example: What do these people do in the first sixty minutes of each morning? What do their workout routines look like, and why? What books have they gifted most to other people? What are the biggest wastes of time for novices in their field? What supplements do they take on a daily basis?“I don’t view myself as an interviewer. I view myself as an experimenter. If I can’t test something and replicate results in the messy reality of everyday life, I’m not interested.“Everything within these pages has been vetted, explored, and applied to my own life in some fashion. I’ve used dozens of the tactics and philosophies in high-stakes negotiations, high-risk environments, or large business dealings. The lessons have made me millions of dollars and saved me years of wasted effort and frustration.“I created this book, my ultimate notebook of high-leverage tools, for myself. It’s changed my life, and I hope the same for you.”

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No.8
81

In the middle of the night on April 14, 2014, terrorist group, Boko Haram, abducted 276 girls from their secondary school's dormitory in the town of Chibok, Northeast Nigeria. Over the following days, 57 girls managed to escape. For two years, 219 girls remained missing.\\nDuring the last four months of 2015, in the heat of the worst of the insurgency, Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, the CEO of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF) in Nigeria embarked on a project to interview, photograph, and document the accounts of the parents of each of the missing girls. The MMF's team managed to meet the relatives of 201 of them.\\nIn May 2016, the first of the missing students, Aisha Nkeki Ali, was found by the Nigerian military. In the intervening years, 107 more have made it home: four by Nigerian military/ para-military intervention, twenty-one by negotiated release in October 2016, and eighty-two more in May 2017; with both deals brokered by Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Increasingly complicated negotiations between the Nigerian Government and Boko Haram continue for the 112 girls who remain captive.\\nFor the families of the girls, and for the Chibok community, the trauma of this experience remains a daily reality. Words have a power that numbers can never have. The Stolen Daughters of Chibok is a collection of supplemental essays by acclaimed experts and interviews and photographs of 152 of the 210 Chibok families that were interviewed and photographed. It is a tribute to the girls, which aims to capture their lives before the abduction and to highlight how their families have struggled to cope afterward.

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No.9
81

The acclaimed author of The Teller of Secrets returns with a gut-wrenching, yet heartwarming, story about a young Ghanaian woman's struggle to make a life in the US, and the challenges she must overcome.\nLola is twenty-one, and her life in Senegal couldn't be better. An aspiring writer and university graduate, she has a great job, a nice apartment, a vibrant social life, and a future filled with possibility. But fate disrupts her world when she falls for Armand, an American Marine stationed at the U.S. Embassy. Her mother, a high court judge in Ghana, disapproves of her choice, but nothing will stop Lola from boarding a plane for Armand and America.\nThat fateful flight is only the beginning of an extraordinary journey; she has traded her carefree life in Senegal for the perilous position of an undocumented immigrant in 1990s America.\nLola encounters adversity that would crush a less-determined woman. Her fate hangs on whether or not she'll grow in courage to forge a different life from one she'd imagined, whether she'll succeed in putting herself and family together again. Daughter in Exile is a hope-filled story about mother love, resilience, and unyielding strength.

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No.10
80

A dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession, and political corruption from the celebrated author of Stay with Me, "in the lineage of great works by Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie" (The New York Times). Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. Because his father has lost his job, Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor, collecting newspapers, begging when he must, dreaming of a big future. Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a wealthy family. Now an exhausted young doctor in her first year of practice, she is beloved by Kunle, the volatile son of an ascendant politician. When a local politician takes an interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party, Wuraola's and Eniola's lives become intertwined. In her breathtaking second novel, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ shines her light on Nigeria, on the gaping divide between the haves and the have-nots, and the shared humanity that lives in between.

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No.11
79

In Gorgeous Display

Okpara, Ugochukwu Damian
Fordham Univ Pr
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No.12
79

Dazzling: A Novel

Emelumadu, Chikodili
Harry N. Abrams

The Girl With The Louding Voice Meets The Water Dancer In This Magical, Award-winning Literary Debut That Offers A New Take On West African Mythology Treasure And Her Mother Lost Everything When Treasure's Father Died. Haggling For Scraps In The Market, Treasure Meets A Man Who Promises To Change Their Fortunes, But His Feet Are Hovering Just A Few Inches Above The Ground. He's A Spirit, And He Promises To Bring Treasure's Beloved Father Back To Life If She'll Do One Terrible Thing For Him First. Ozoemena Has An Itch In The Middle Of Her Back. It's An Itch That Speaks To Her Patrilineal Destiny, An Honor Never Before Bestowed Upon A Girl, To Defend The Land And Protect Its People By Becoming A Leopard. Her Father Impressed Upon Her What An Honor This Was Before He Vanished, But It's One She Couldn't Want Less-she Has Enough To Worry About As She Tries To Fit In At A New Boarding School. But As The Two Girls Reckon With Their Burgeoning Wildness And The Legacy Of Their Missing Fathers, Ozoemena's Fellow Students Start To Vanish. Treasure's Obligations To The Spirit Escalate, And Ozoemena's Duty Of Protection As A Leopard Grows. Soon The Girls' Destinies And Choices Alike Set Them On A Dangerous Collision Course. Ultimately, They Must Ask Themselves: In A World That Always Says No To Women, What Must Two Young Girls Sacrifice To Get What Is Theirs?-- Provided By Publisher.

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No.13
78

River Spirit

Aboulela, Leila
Grove Pr

The spellbinding new novel from New York Times Notable Author and Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela about an embattled young woman's coming of age during the Mahdist War in 19th century Sudan. Leila Aboulela, hailed as "a versatile prose stylist" (New York Times) has also been praised by J.M. Coetzee, Ali Smith, and Ben Okri, among others, for her rich and nuanced novels depicting Islamic spiritual and political life. Her new novel is an enchanting narrative of the years leading up to the British conquest of Sudan in 1898, and a deeply human look at the tensions between Britain and Sudan, Christianity and Islam, colonizer and colonized. In River Spirit, Aboulela gives us the unforgettable story of a people who--against the odds and for a brief time--gained independence from foreign rule through their willpower, subterfuge, and sacrifice. When Akuany and her brother Bol are orphaned in a village raid in South Sudan, they're taken in by a young merchant Yaseen who promises to care for them, a vow that tethers him to Akuany through their adulthood. As a revolutionary leader rises to power - the self-proclaimed Mahdi, prophesied redeemer of Islam - Sudan begins to slip from the grasp of Ottoman rule, and everyone must choose a side. A scholar of the Qur'an, Yaseen feels beholden to stand against this false Mahdi, even as his choice splinters his family. Meanwhile, Akuany moves through her young adulthood and across the country alone, sold and traded from house to house, with Yaseen as her inconsistent lifeline. Everything each of them is striving for - love, freedom, safety - is all on the line in the fight for Sudan. Through the voices of seven men and women whose fates grow inextricably linked, Aboulela's latest novel illuminates a fraught and bloody reckoning with the history of a people caught in the crosshairs of imperialism. River Spirit is a powerful tale of corruption, coming of age, and unshakeable devotion - to a cause, to one's faith, and to the people who become family.

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No.14
78

Small Worlds

Nelson, Caleb Azumah
Grove Press

An exhilarating and expansive new novel about fathers and sons, faith and friendship from National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and Costa First Novel Award winning author Caleb Azumah Nelson\nOne of the most acclaimed and internationally bestselling “unforgettable” (New York Times) debuts of the 2021, Caleb Azumah Nelson’s London-set love story Open Water took the US by storm and introduced the world to a salient and insightful new voice in fiction. Now, with his second novel Small Worlds, the prodigious Azumah Nelson brings another set of enduring characters to brilliant life in his signature rhythmic, melodic prose.\nSet over the course of three summers, Small Worlds follows Stephen, a first-generation Londoner born to Ghanian immigrant parents, brother to Ray, and best friend to Adeline. On the cusp of big life changes, Stephen feels pressured to follow a certain path—a university degree, a move out of home—but when he decides instead to follow his first love, music, his world and family fractures in ways he didn’t foresee. Now Stephen must find a path and peace for himself: a space he can feel beautiful, a space he can feel free.\nMoving from London, England to Accra, Ghana and back again, Small Worlds is an exquisite and intimate new novel about the people and places we hold close, from one of the most “elegant, poetic” (CNN) and important voices of a generation.

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No.15
78

Fresh and electrifying--stories, poems, and essays by African and diaspora writers, edited by author Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond. Relations punctures the human illusion of separation. New and established storytellers reshape the narratives that divide and subjugate, revealing the truth of our shared humanity despite differences in language, identity, class, gender, and beyond. This vital anthology is Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond's striking vision of a meeting place of perspectives, centered in the African and diaspora experience. In a post-Black Panther world, it is an urgent and welcome embrace of the diversity of Blackness. A refreshing collection of genre-spanning literature, it offers a vibrant meditation on being--inviting connection across real and imagined borders, and celebration of the most profound relations.

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No.16
78

An unforgettable and eviscerating novel of human frailty, brutality, and resistance as told through the first-person prison narratives of a man and a woman\\nHistory of Ash is a fictional prison account narrated by Mouline and Leila, who have been imprisoned for their political activities during the so-called Lead Years of the 1970s and 1980s in Morocco, a period that was characterized by heavy state repression.\\nMoving between past and present, between experiences lived inside the prison cell and outside it, in the torture chamber and the judicial system, and the challenges they faced upon their release, Mouline and Leila describe their strategies for survival and resistance in lucid, often searing detail, and reassess their political engagements and the movements in which they are involved.\\nWritten with compassion and insight, History of Ash speaks to human brutality, resilience, and the power of the human spirit. It succeeds in both documenting the prison experience and humanizing it, while ultimately holding out the promise of redemption through a new generation.

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No.17
78

With clear, conversational prose, this is the first book dedicated entirely to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's writings on translation. Through his many critically acclaimed novels, stories, essays, plays, and memoirs, Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o has been at the forefront of world literature for decades. He has also been, in his own words, "a language warrior," fighting for indigenous African languages to find their rightful place in the literary world. Having begun his writing career in English, Ngũgĩ shifted to writing in his native language Gikũyũ in 1977, a stance both creatively and politically significant. For decades now, Ngũgĩ has been translating his Gikũyũ works into English himself, and he has used many platforms to champion the practice and cause of literary translations, which he calls "the language of languages."   This volume brings together for the first time Ngũgĩ's essays and lectures about translation, written and delivered over the past two decades. Here we find Ngũgĩ discussing translation as a conversation between cultures; proposing that dialogue among African languages is the way to unify African peoples; reflecting on the complexities of auto-translation or translating one's own work; exploring the essential task translation performed in the history of the propagation of thought; and pleading for the hierarchy of languages to be torn down. He also shares his many experiences of writing across languages, including his story The Upright Revolution, which has been translated into more than a hundred languages around the globe and is the most widely translated text written by an African author. At a time when dialogues between cultures and peoples are more essential than ever, The Language of Languages makes an outspoken case for the value of literature without borders.  

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No.18
77

Celebrate the end of Ramadan with this luminous Muslim family story about faith, history, and delicious foods.\\nOn the night before Eid, it’s finally time to make special sweet treats: Teita’s famous ka’ak. Zain eagerly unpacks the ingredients from his grandmother’s bulky suitcase: ghee from Khalo Karim, dates from Amo Girgis, and honey from Tant Tayseer—precious flavors all the way from Egypt. Together with Mama and Teita, Zain follows his family’s recipe and brings to life Eid songs and prayers, pharaonic history, and the melodies and tastes of his Egyptian heritage.\nThis Muslim holiday story, featuring a delicious ka’ak recipe, is a satisfying addition to a joyful and expansive Eid.

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No.19
77

One of the Books Barack Obama Is Reading This Summer\nOne of Vulture’s Best Books of 2023\nOne of Goodreads’ Buzziest Debut Novels of 2023\nOne of Essence’s 31 Books You Must Read\nOne of the most anticipated books by Town & Country and Elle\\nAmerica is seen through the eyes and ambitions of three characters with ties to Africa in this gripping novel\\nWhen siblings Jacob and Belinda Nti were growing up in Ghana, their goal was simple: to move to America. For them, the United States was both an opportunity and a struggle, a goal and an obstacle.\\nJacob, an awkward computer programmer who still lives with his father, wants a visa so he can move to Virginia to live with his wife—a request that the U.S. government has repeatedly denied. He envies his sister, Belinda, who achieved, as their father put it, “what Napoleon could not do”: she went to college and law school in the United States and even managed to marry Wilder, a wealthy Black businessman from Texas. Wilder’s view of America differs markedly from his wife’s, as he’s spent his life railing against the racism and marginalization that are part of life for every African American living here.\\nFor these three, their desires and ambitions highlight the promise and the disappointment that life in a new country offers. How each character comes to understand this and how each learns from both their dashed hopes and their fulfilled dreams lie at the heart of what makes What Napoleon Could Not Do such a compelling, insightful read.

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No.20
77

The Nigerwife: A Novel

Walters, Vanessa
Atria Books

In this twisty and electrifying debut novel, a young woman goes missing in Lagos, Nigeria, and her estranged auntie will stop at nothing to find the truth behind her disappearance. Perfect for fans of My Sister, the Serial Killer and The Last Thing He Told Me. Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a hand­some husband; a palatial house in the heart of glittering Lagos, Nigeria; and a glamorous group of friends. She left gloomy London and a troubled family past behind for sunny, moneyed Lagos, becoming part of the Nigerwives--a com­munity of foreign women married to Nigerian men. But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her auntie Claudine decides to take matters into her own hands. Armed with only a cell phone and a plane ticket to Nigeria, she digs into her niece's life and uncov­ers a hidden side filled with dark secrets, isolation, and even violence. But the more she discovers about Nicole, the more Claudine's own buried history threatens to come to light. An inventively told and keenly observant thriller where nothing is as it seems, The Nigerwife offers a razor-sharp look at the bonds of family, the echoing consequences of secrets, and whether we can ever truly outrun our past.

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No.21
77

You wouldn't know it was there, the unnumbered house behind the iron-grille gate, just below the craggy rocks of Northcliff ridge. To the untrained eye the rambling property might seem neglected, with its tangle of trees and untamed indigenous bush. But there is purpose here, and a peaceful, subterranean focus on all that withers and dies. Five strangers - a model, a former nun, a couple in crisis, and an offender newly released from prison - have come here, to this place, to discover an end to life as they've known it. Placing their trust in their hosts, the Mortician and Mustafa, the five open their minds and bodies to an alternative experience. Not all of them will survive - or at least not in the way they imagined - but all of them will be shown the limits of their living. The Institute for Creative Dying is vivid and visceral, unique in its bold and imaginative exploration of mortality and the interconnectedness of all forms of being. REVIEWS 'This is everything that a great and impactful debut novel should be - brilliant, daring and ambitious.' SIPHIWE GLORIA NDLOVU, award-winning author 'Rendered in vivid and highly imaginative detail, this story - seemingly about death - offers new understandings about what it truly means to be alive. Thompson is one of the most promising voices on the African continent.' RÉMY NGAMIJE, author of The Eternal Audience of One 'Equal parts morbid and miraculous, this novel explores the intricacies and intimacies of death and dying in wholly original ways. The result is an astonishing, unique piece of work.' MEGAN ROSS, writer 'Jarred Thompson proves why he's one of South Africa's most daring young writers. Macabre, weird, zany and decidedly ominous, this gutsy debut novel explores the ethics of death and the value of life.' KHANYA MTSHALI, writer and cultural critic THE AUTHOR JARRED THOMPSON was the winner of the 2020 Afritondo Prize and has been the recipient of several prestigious scholarships, including The Global Excellence and Stature Scholarship, The Chris van Wyk Creative Writing Scholarship, two National Arts Council Grants and an NRF nGAP Scholarship. He is a literary and cultural studies researcher and educator and works as a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Pretoria. The Institute for Creative Dying is his debut novel.

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