Translator Publishes List of 146 Books by 66 African Authors Selling in Chinese

January 18, 2019

Chinese editions of *Things Fall Apart*, *We Should All Be Feminists*, and *Half of a Yellow Sun*.

A translator of Chinese into English, Bruce Humes, has published a list of 146 books by 66 African authors selling in China. In his list, some of the books, likely academic texts, are grouped under “Introduction to African Drama,” “Introduction to African Epics,” “Introduction to African Literature,” “Poetry Collections,” “Short Story Collections,” and “Taiwan Editions.” The rest appear under their authors’ names.

The list is spread across generational divides: from early seminal figures—Amos Tutuola, Peter Abrahams, Chinua Achebe, Léopold Senghor, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Nadine Gordimer, Naguib Mahfouz, Doris Lessing—to latter figures—Ama Ata Aidoo, Mariama Bâ, Aminata Sow Fall, J.M. Coetzee, Tayeb Salih, Ousmane Sembène, Ben Okri, Nuruddin Farah—to contemporary names—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Alain Mabanckou, Leila Aboulela, Jose Eduardo Agualusa, Laila Lalami, Mia Couto, Binyavanga Wainaina, Petina Gappah, Nnedi Okorafor, Uwem Akpan, Alexander McCall Smith, and Chigozie Obioma.

Humes’ report shows that, while Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka were the first to have up to five of their works translated, Adichie has become the first to have all her works—a total of six books—translated.

Here is a full list of the 66 authors: