We began taking stock of African book covers in 2021, seven years after Simon Stevens called out the Euro-American publishing industry for using the same image of acacia trees and sun set for multiple African books. Africa is a Country ran a piece in which they mention the racist undertone of these book covers made for readers who see Africa through stereotypes. In the intervening years, the visual culture around African books has exploded into a burst of dazzling and beautifully designed cover art. Of course, this is also a response to the ways in which image-centered social platforms like Instagram have become central to readers discovering books. In a way, publishers have learned to design covers for the gram! 

Our “Favorite African Book Covers of the Year” list is always a delight to curate. This year is no different. Publishers, both those that are based on the continent and in the west, brought their A-game. Everyone is leaning heavily into colors (again, the Instagram effect), massive fonts, and striking portraits. As you will see when you scroll through, these covers are works of art in themselves. 

We like to remind our readers that this list is NOT exhaustive. It is just a skim off the top of a massive collection of books published this year with really strong cover art. We hope this list wets your appetite and sends you googling for more!

 

Everything about the cover art for Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase is so striking we could stare at it all day. The bright orange background certainly makes the futuristic figure on the cover pop. It’s one of the most unique covers we have seen!

  The cover of art of Ivana Akotowaa Ofori’s The Year of Return captures the dark mystery at the hear tof this modern, supernatural take on the violence of slavery.

The simplicity of the cover blends the innocence of childhood and the solemnity of ritual. Simple but moving!

The use of space in the cover art for Nthikeng Mohlele’s Revolutionaries’ House intensifies the rawness of the fleshy heart and blood-stained flowers.

Don’t be fooled by the bright colors, Julie Iromuanya’s Light is a dark and twisted domestic thriller that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

 

This image of Afia, the lead character in Mia Araujo’s Afia in the Land of Wonders, is ethereal. Somehow it still captures the dangerous wonder awaiting the brave and inquisitive heroine.

The striking portrait with the texture of a painting speaks to the focus on black art, history, and culture in Ekow Eshun’s The Stranger.

The font is mysterious, philosophical, and elegant. The dark blue background and gold accent speak of magic and secrecy. In Umar Sidi’s The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus, readers are let into a surreal world where knowledge is the ultimate and most secret power.

The detailed artwork of Uche Okonkwo’s A Kind of Madness is full of tension between the pinks and yellows coiling up in the tail of a snake. 

The mystical mix of color in Jordan Ifueko’s The Maid and the Crocodile grabs our attention and leaves us wanting more. 

The cover art for the US edition of Pemi Aguda’s Ghostroots is strange and hard to decipher, but that’s precisely why you also want to read the book!  

In the few years that we have run this series, this is the first time that we are running two covers for one book. But the Nigerian edition of Pemi Aguda’s Ghostroots (published by Masobe books) is also amazing. Looks like it is coming straight out of a modernist painting.

Tobi Ogundiran’s In the Shadow of the Fall is full of dark and light contrasts making the illustrations unreal. It’s beautiful! 

The bold color contrasts and childhood image at the back of the mind are full of detail in Maame Blue’s The Rest of You cover. 

The rocky landscape pictured on the cover of The Road to the Salt Sea is captivating! It evokes the allure of uncharted space. 

Namina Forna’s series are known to have captivating covers. The gold-detailed illustration in The Eternal Ones is just as mesmerizing as her previous covers. 

The U.K. version of The Liquid Eye of a Moon is a space of bright, neon colors contrasted with illustration. It’s compelling! 

Dzifa Benson’s Monster is a cover to remember with its buried illustrations covered in eye-catching images and colors of nature. 

The photo on the cover of someone birthed them broken is filled with texture and rich pinks. It is a work of art!

We have so many questions about this cover of Where Sleeping Girls Lie: the haunted house aesthetic, the gothic-style font, the lone bird on the eye of a striking portrait of a young woman. You can feel the mystery at the art of Faridah Abike-Iyimide’s new book seeping through the cover. 

Damilare Kuku’s Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow is full of different textures and colors in the illustration. It’s bright and inviting and captures Kuku’s signature humorous style. The title, though! 

Masquerade is powerful and dark with illustrations detailed in gold. It’s breathtaking!

Nnedi Okorafor’s Death of the Author is one of the most highly anticipated book of the year. The print background and luminous portrait channels the larger-than-life-ness. of the heroine at the heart of the novel.

Izimpabanga Zomhlaba is Makhosazana Xaba’s translation of Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. The cover is layered and arresting, but the vertical font is what truly pulls it all together.

In this cover of Zukiswa Wanner’s Love, Marry, Kill, the contrast of heart emoji, guns, and rings makes sense for a story with the words “love” and “kill” in the same title.

 

Text and colors flow together in Half Portraits Under Water like we are moving along with the cover. It’s a perfect concept for the title!

James Yeku’s Ambivalent Encounters and Other Essays is a personal account of the shift from print to digital culture that we are still grappling with today. The cover art highlights the strangeness of that in-between space between two experiences of knowledge-making.

In Like Water Like Sea, Olumide Popoola centers water as a force that makes and unmakes the body. The swirls and colors of the massive fonts on the cover captures the beauty, possibility, but also danger in the constant flow of water.

Helen Oyeyemi’s Parasol Against the Axe is an optical illusion of colors and images. It’s one to keep coming back to!

Beautiful colors and landscape make The Road to the Country an easy choice to pick up for the next read. 

The bold illustrations and vibrant colors of We Were Girls Once blend beautifully! 

The muted colors make the illustration in Born in a House of Glass stand out. The shapes are a great use of perspective. 

The bright green and orange of Little Rot catch our attention. The contrasting colors and shapes work together great!

The detailed illustrations in Bright Red Fruit are gorgeous. The colors blend so well that it’s making the cover look like it’s reflective, so cool!

 

Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Anguish and Anarchy is full of stunning gold and bright blue accents. It’s beautiful!