Hey Brittle Paper fam, our 50 Notable African Books of 2021 is here. We are thrilled to share it with you and to share that New York City based cultural organization The Africa Center and South Africa’s premier newspaper The Mail and Guardian have partnered with us to bring this list to you. You can find all 50 books on this beautifully designed page.

Launched in 2018, the 50 Notable African Books of the Year list is a curated collection of the most impactful African books in a given year. This year, the list continues the tradition of offering something for everyone: speculative fiction, YA, poetry, queer writing, memoirs, political thrillers, as well as books from 20 African countries, including, for the first time, Mauritania and Central African Republic.

The Africa Center is a cultural organization that seeks to “transform the world’s understanding of Africa, its Diaspora and the role of people of African descent in the world.” They are supporting this list as part of their mandate to foster pan-African cultures and experiences in all their diversity.

The Mail & Guardian is a “South African weekly newspaper and website that publishes political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular culture.” They are co-publishing the list both in print and digital.

We hope you’ll join us in celebrating the sheer diversity of the books in this year’s collection and what it says about the dynamism of contemporary African literary culture. Also keep in mind that the list is great to use as holiday shopping guide for the book lovers in your life.

Tell other booklovers about the list:

1.Use the #NotableAfricanBooks hashtag to share the list on social media and tag us!

– Instagram: @brittlepaper

– Twitter: @brittlepaper

– Facebook @brittlepaper

2. Let us know what you think: reply to this email with a brief comment what you think about the impact of African literature this year. We’ll compile your response and those from others in a series of social media posts.

Thanks for taking the time to explore these books and sharing it with fellow booklovers.