The Famished Road

Written with a unique narrative voice style that has been called animist realism, a form of magical realism in African literature, the 1991 Booker Prize winner follows young Asaro, an abiku (spirit child), who still straddles the “real” world and the land of the dead. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. stated that “while The Famished Road may signal a new achievement for the African novel in English, it would be a dazzling achievement for any writer in any language.” The book also inspired the Radiohead song “Street Spirit (Fade Out).”

Things Fall Apart

A relatively peaceful village is thrown into chaos with the arrival of Europeans in the late 1800s. Achebe’s critically acclaimed book is a staple in African schools and is widely read around the world.