Afrophone literatures in translation
in memoriam, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938-2025), a champion of African-language literatures and marginalized and denied languages everywhere. this is a list of literature translated into English from African languages (sometimes indirectly by way of other European languages) that’s currently available for purchase.
whether I’ve deemed a book “currently available” is based on the books being listed for sale either on the publisher’s website or through a distributor. books are listed in alphabetical order by author, with a link to the publisher or distributor page.
I’m not currently including African Arabic literatures, not because I don’t think they qualify but because it is, for the most part, trivially easy to find at least North African Arabic texts in translation. at some point, partly pending the availability of texts, I may include some Sahrawi, Chadian, Mauritanian, and/or West African Arabic literature (availability is key — I’m only aware of a single work of Sahrawi Arabic literature in translation, for example).
I also have not (yet) included any ancient Egyptian literature, but I likely will at some point. currently all of the premodern and early modern literature — Old Nubian and Ge’ez, as it stands now — is listed under classics (as well as other categories as appropriate).
note that some books appear in multiple sections if they cross genre boundaries. books marked with an asterisk are books we know or strongly suspect to have LGBTQ content.
classics
- anonymous (tr. Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei): The Miracle of Saint Mina (biography/folklore, Old Nubian, 2012 [medieval], punctum books)
- also listed in biography and memoir.
- Fagunwa, D.O. (tr. Wole Soyinka): Forest of a Thousand Daemons: A Hunter’s Saga (novel, Yoruba, 2013 [1938], City Lights Books)
- also listed in science fiction and fantasy.
- Frobenius, Leo (ed.) (tr. Alta Jablow): Gassire’s Lute: A West African Epic (epic, Soninke, 1971 [1921, coll. 1909], Waveland Press)
- also listed in folklore and oral literature.
- Gaarriye aka Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac (tr. W.N. Herbert and Martin Orwin): Ask the Thunder / Onkodka Warayso (poetry, Somali, 2019, Poetry Translation Centre)
- Galawdewos (tr. Wendy Laura Belcher and Michael Kleiner): The Life of Walatta Petros: A Seventeenth-Century Biography of an African Woman (biography, Ge’ez, 2019, Princeton University Press)
- Hailu, Gebreyesus (tr. Ghirmai Negash): The Conscript: A Novel of Libya’s Anticolonial War (novel, Tigrinya, 2012 [1950], Ohio University Press)
- also listed in general fiction.
- Kezilahabi, Euphrase (tr. Jay Boss Rubin): Rosa Mistika (novel, Swahili, 2025 [1971], Yale University Press)
- also listed in general fiction.
- Kouyaté, Mamadou (tr. D.T. Niane and G.D. Pickett): Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (epic, Malinke, 2024 [1960, coll. ?], Apollo)
- also listed in folklore and oral literature. strictly speaking this is a composite of multiple of Kouyaté’s performances assembled and translated by Niane.
- Mgqwetho, Nontsizi (tr. Jeff Opland): Nation’s Bounty: The Xhosa Poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho (poetry, Xhosa, 2007, Wits university Press)
- Mofolo, Thomas (tr. Daniel P. Kunene): Chaka (novel, Sotho, 1981 [1925], Waveland Press)
- also listed in general fiction.
- Mqhayi, S.E.K. (tr. various): Abantu Besizwe: Historical and Biographical Writings, 1902-1944 (biography/history/essay, Xhosa, 2009, Wits University Press)
- also listed in biography and memoir and in history and essays.
- Mqhayi, S.E.K. (tr. Jeff Opland and Peter T. Mtuze): Iziganeko zesizwe: Occasional poems (1900–1943) (poetry, Xhosa, 2017, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press)
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (tr. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o): Devil on the Cross (novel, Gikuyu, 2017 [1980], Penguin Classics)
- also listed in general fiction.
- Okot p’Bitek (multiple translations): Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol (tr. Okot p’Bitek) / Defense of Lawino (tr. Taban lo Liyong) (poetry, Luo, 2001/1966 [1969], Waveland Press/Fountain Publishers)
- Thomas, I.B. (tr. Karin Barber): Print Culture and the First Yoruba Novel: I.B. Thomas’s Life Story of Me, Sẹgilọla and Other Texts (novel, Yoruba, 2012 [1930], Brill)
- Zara Yaqob and Walda Heywat (tr. Ralph Lee, Mehari Zemelek Worku, and Wendy Laura Belcher): The Hatata Inquiries: Two Texts of Seventeenth-Century African Philosophy from Ethiopia about Reason, the Creator, and Our Ethical Responsibilities (essay, Ge’ez, 2024 [17th century], De Gruyter)
- also listed in history and essays.
general fiction
- Diop, Boubacar Boris (tr. Vera Wülfing-Leckie and El Hadji Moustapha Diop): Doomi Golo: The Hidden Notebooks (novel, Wolof, 2016 [2003], Michigan State University Press)
- Fálétí, Adébáyò (tr. Pamela J. Olúbùnmi Smith): The Freedom Fight: A Novel of Resistance and Freedom (novel, Yoruba, 2010 [1970/1958], Africa World Press)
- Hadraawi aka Maxamed Ibraahin Warsame (tr. Maxamed Hasan Alto, Said Jama Hussein, and W.N. Herbert): The Poet and the Man (poetry, Somali, 2013, Poetry Translation Centre)
- Hailu, Gebreyesus (tr. Ghirmai Negash): The Conscript: A Novel of Libya’s Anticolonial War (novel, Tigrinya, 2012 [1950], Ohio University Press)
- also listed in general fiction.
- Kezilahabi, Euphrase (tr. Jay Boss Rubin): Rosa Mistika (novel, Swahili, 2025 [1971], Yale University Press)
- Mofolo, Thomas (tr. Daniel P. Kunene): Chaka (novel, Sotho, 1981 [1925], Waveland Press)
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (tr. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o): Devil on the Cross (novel, Gikuyu, 2017 [1980], Penguin Classics)
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (tr. Wangui wa Goro): Matigari (novel, Gikuyu, 1993 [1986], Africa World Press)
- Pheto, T.J. (tr. Keith Robert Phetlhe): Botlhodi: The Abomination) (novel, Tswana, 2019 [1985], Langaa RPCIG)
- Yakubu, Balaraba Ramat (tr. Aliyu Kamal): Sin Is a Puppy That Follows You Home (novel, Hausa, 2012 [1990], Blaft Publications)
- various authors (tr. various): No Edges: Swahili Stories (short fiction, Swahili, 2023, Two Lines Press)
- also listed in science fiction and fantasy.
science fiction and fantasy
- Fagunwa, D.O. (tr. Wole Soyinka): Forest of a Thousand Daemons: A Hunter’s Saga (novel, Yoruba, 2013 [1938], City Lights Books)
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (tr. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o): The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi (novel/epic, Gikuyu, 2020, Harvill Secker)
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (tr. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o): Wizard of the Crow (novel, Gikuyu, 2006, Anchor)
- Sibhatu, Ribka (tr. André Naffis-Sahely): Aulò! Aulò! Aulò! (poetry/short fiction, Tigrinya/Italian, 2020 [2012/1993?], Poetry Translation Centre)
- various authors (tr. various): No Edges: Swahili Stories (short fiction, Swahili, 2023, Two Lines Press)
- also listed in general fiction.
folklore and oral literature
as in the denied-language bookstore, this section only includes texts collected and transcribed from oral sources, rather than texts retold in written form.
- Bamba Suso and Banna Kannute (tr. Gordon Innes and Bakari Sidibe): Sunjata (epic, Mandinka, 2000 [1974, coll. 1970], Penguin Classics)
- Fa-Digi Sisòkò (tr. John William Johnson): The Epic of Son-Jara: A West African Tradition (epic, Mandinka, 1992 [1986, coll. 1968], Indiana University Press)
- Frobenius, Leo (ed.) (tr. Alta Jablow): Gassire’s Lute: A West African Epic (epic, Soninke, 1971 [1921, coll. 1909], Waveland Press)
- Dahle, Lars (ed.) (tr. Lee Haring): How to Read a Folktale: The Ibonia Epic from Madagascar (epic, Malagasy, 2013 [1877, coll. ?], OpenBook Publishers)
- Kouyaté, Mamadou (tr. D.T. Niane and G.D. Pickett): Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (epic, Malinke, 2024 [1960, coll. ?], Apollo)
- also listed in classics. strictly speaking this is a composite of multiple of Kouyaté’s performances assembled and translated by Niane.
- Nouhou Malio (tr. various): The Epic of Askia Mohammed (epic, Songhay, 1996 [coll. 1980-1981], Indiana University Press)
- Rureke, Shé-kári̧si̧ (tr. various): The Mwindo Epic from the Banyanga (epic, Nyanga, 1989 [1969, coll. 1956], University of California Press)
- Shaŵa, Lester Brian and Boston Jaston Soko (ed. and tr.): Tumbuka Folktales: Moral and Didactic Lessons from Malaŵi (folklore, Tumbuka, 2014, Mzuni Press)
poetry
I’ve found a number of other poetry collections that seem like they may be published bilingually, but they’re not very well-documented online, so I can’t be sure.
- Cantalupo, Charles (ed.) (tr. Charles Cantalupo and Ghirmai Negash): War and Peace in Contemporary Eritrean Poetry (poetry/criticism, Tigrinya/Tigre/Arabic, 2009, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers)
- also listed in other nonfiction. mainly literary criticism but includes a selection of poems in English translation.
- Gaarriye aka Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac (tr. W.N. Herbert and Martin Orwin): Ask the Thunder / Onkodka Warayso (poetry, Somali, 2019, Poetry Translation Centre)
- Gaarriye aka Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac (tr. W.N. Herbert and Martin Orwin): Self-Misunderstood! / Garaad-daran Naftayday! (poetry, Somali, ?, Poetry Translation Centre)
- Hadraawi aka Maxamed Ibraahin Warsame (tr. Maxamed Hasan Alto, Said Jama Hussein, and W.N. Herbert): The Poet and the Man (poetry, Somali, 2013, Poetry Translation Centre)
- Hawad (tr. Hawad, Hélène Claudot-Hawad, and Christopher Wise): In the Net (poetry, Tamajaght, 2022 [2014], University of Nebraska Press)
- Hussein, Said Jama and W.N. Herbert (ed.): So at One with You / Bulshoy ma is baran lahayn: An Anthology of Modern Poetry in Somali (poetry, Somali, 2018, Poetry Translation Centre)
- Kunene, Mazisi and B.W. Vilakazi (tr. Dike Okoro): Two Zulu Poets: Mazisi Kunene and Benedict Wallet Vilakazi (poetry, Zulu, 2015, Cissus World Press)
- Mgqwetho, Nontsizi (tr. Jeff Opland): Nation’s Bounty: The Xhosa Poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho (poetry, Xhosa, 2007, Wits university Press)
- Motadinyane, Isabella (tr. ?): Complete Poems (poetry, Sotho/English, 2016, Deep South)
- Mqhayi, S.E.K. (tr. Jeff Opland and Ntombomzi Mazwi): Izibongo Zoogxa: Poems on Contemporaries (1902–1944) (poetry, Xhosa, 2024, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press)
- Mqhayi, S.E.K. (tr. Jeff Opland and Peter T. Mtuze): Iziganeko zesizwe: Occasional poems (1900–1943) (poetry, Xhosa, 2017, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press)
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (tr. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o): The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi (novel/epic, Gikuyu, 2020, Harvill Secker)
- also listed in science fiction and fantasy.
- Okot p’Bitek (multiple translations): Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol (tr. Okot p’Bitek) / Defense of Lawino (tr. Taban lo Liyong) (poetry, Luo, 2001/1966 [1969], Waveland Press/African Books Collective)
- Sibhatu, Ribka (tr. André Naffis-Sahely): Aulò! Aulò! Aulò! (poetry/short fiction, Tigrinya/Italian, 2020 [2012/1993?], Poetry Translation Centre)
- also listed in science fiction and fantasy.
- Yusuf, Asha Lul Mohamud (tr. Said Jama Hussein, Maxamed Xasan Alto, and Clare Pollard): The Sea-Migrations / Tahriib (poetry, Somali, 2017, Bloodaxe Books)
- Yusuf, Asha Lul Mohamud (tr. Maxamed Xasan Alto, Said Jama Hussein, and Clare Pollard): Taste / Dookh (poetry, Somali, 2012, Poetry Translation Centre)
biography and memoir
- anonymous (tr. Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei): The Miracle of Saint Mina (biography/folklore, Old Nubian, 2012 [medieval], punctum books)
- Galawdewos (tr. Wendy Laura Belcher and Michael Kleiner): The Life of Walatta Petros: A Seventeenth-Century Biography of an African Woman (biography, Ge’ez, 2019, Princeton University Press)
- Jabavu, D.D.T. (tr. Cecil Wele Manona): In India and East Africa / E-Indiya nase East Africa: A travelogue in isiXhosa and English (autobiography, Xhosa, 2020 [1951], Wits University Press)
- Mqhayi, S.E.K. (tr. various): Abantu Besizwe: Historical and Biographical Writings, 1902-1944 (biography/history/essay, Xhosa, 2009, Wits University Press)
- also listed in classics and in history and essays.
history and essays
- Jeffers, Chike (ed.) (tr. various): Listening to Ourselves: A Multilingual Anthology of African Philosophy (essay, Wolof/Amharic/Luo/Gikuyu/Igbo/Akan, 2013, SUNY Press)
- Mqhayi, S.E.K. (tr. various): Abantu Besizwe: Historical and Biographical Writings, 1902-1944 (biography/history/essay, Xhosa, 2009, Wits University Press)
- also listed in classics and in biography and memoir.
- Zara Yaqob and Walda Heywat (tr. Ralph Lee, Mehari Zemelek Worku, and Wendy Laura Belcher): The Hatata Inquiries: Two Texts of Seventeenth-Century African Philosophy from Ethiopia about Reason, the Creator, and Our Ethical Responsibilities (essay, Ge’ez, 2024 [17th century], De Gruyter)
other nonfiction
this section includes a selection of essays, literary criticism, history, and similar that deal with African-language literatures. books focused on a particular language are identified by language.
- Barber, Karin: The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics (2007, Cambridge University Press)
- Cantalupo, Charles: War and Peace in Contemporary Eritrean Poetry (Tigrinya/Tigre/Arabic, 2009, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers)
- Garnier, Xavier (tr. Rémi Tchokothe Armand and Frances Kennett): The Swahili Novel: Challenging the Idea of ‘Minor Literature’ (Swahili, 2013 [2006], James Currey)
- Gomez, Michael A.: Africqn Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa (2018, Princeton University Press)
- notably includes historical analyses of several West African oral epics.
- Hamilton, Carolyn: Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention (Zulu, 1998, Harvard University Press)
- Mazrui, Alamin: Swahili Beyond the Boundaries: Literature, Language, and Identity (Swahili, 2007, Ohio University Press)
- Mhlambi, Innocentia Jabulisile: African-language Literatures: New Perspectives on IsiZulu Fiction and Popular Black Television Series (Zulu, 2012, Wits University Press)
- Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ: The Rise of the African Novel: Politics of Language, Identity, and Ownership (2018, University of Michigan Press)
- Musa, Umma Aliyu: Emotions in Muslim Hausa Women’s Fiction: More Than Just Romance (Hausa, 2019, Routledge)
- Negash, Ghirmai: A History of Tigrinya Literature in Eritrea: The Oral and Written, 1890-1991 (Tigrinya, 2010 [1999], Africa World Press)
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1986, James Currey)
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas (2025, The New Press)
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