54 Notable African Female Authors You Should Know

African literature has always been a powerhouse of stories that shape how we see the world, and the women behind some of those stories are absolutely legendary. They have been breaking rules, breaking silences, and breaking our hearts (in the best way) for decades. There are household names like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and voices (like me, like you) still fighting to get the flowers they deserve. In this list, I’m spotlighting 54 notable African female authors from every corner of the continent who have shaped and are still shaping the literary scene.

*This is in commemoration of International Women’s Day.

 

1. Assia Djebar (Algeria)

Assia Djebar’s work was all about women, identity, and the long shadow of colonialism. If you want to feel like you’ve been punched in the gut by beautiful writing, check out Women of Algiers in Their Apartment or Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade, or So Vast the Prison. Even though she passed away in 2015, Assia Djebar continues to influence Algerian and Francophone literature. 

 

2. Isabel Ferreira (Angola)

Isabel Ferreira’s poetry and fiction tap into themes of identity, exile, and what it means to belong when you’re caught between worlds. Her works like Laços de amor: poemas and Remando Daqui feel like letters from someone trying to piece together where home really is.

 

3. Irène Assiba d’Almeida (Benin)

Irène Assiba d’Almeida writes like someone who knows the weight of silence and how to break it. Her work, Francophone African Women Writers: Destroying the Emptiness of Silence, is basically a manifesto on how African women have used literature to push back against erasure. Bonus points: she also co-translated Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God into French.

4. Bessie Head (Botswana)

Bessie Head was born in South Africa but became Botswana’s literary queen. Her books, like When Rain Clouds Gather and A Question of Power, tackled race, identity, and exile, all wrapped in some of the most poetic writing you’ll ever read. 

 

5. Monique Ilboudo (Burkina Faso)

Monique Ilboudo writes stories that put women’s lives front and center. She doesn’t flinch when tackling gender inequality or the messiness of African society. Le Mal de peau (The Ill of the Skin) is one of her best, and it bagged the national first prize for Best Novel in Burkina Faso.

 

6. Esther Kamatari (Burundi)

A literal princess fled her country, became a top fashion model in Paris, and then wrote a memoir that made everyone rethink royalty. That’s Esther Kamatari. Her book, Princess of the Rugo: My Story, is all about resilience, rebellion, and finding your voice.

 

7. Imbolo Mbue (Cameroon)

Behold the Dreamers is one of the best immigrant stories out there, about chasing the American Dream when the system is set up to break you. It received critical acclaim and earned the 2017 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. 

 

8. Vera Duarte (Cape Verde)

Vera Duarte wears many hats — poet, lawyer, and human rights activist. Her poetry collection, Amanhã amadrugada (Tomorrow at Dawn) reads like someone gently asking the world to do better.

9. Adrienne Yabouza (Central African Republic)

Adrienne Yabouza’s writing feels like opening someone’s diary if that diary had been through war, love, loss, and everything in between. Her books, like La défaite des mères and Bangui… allowi give a raw, intimate view of life in the Central African Republic.

 

10. Marie-Christine Koundja (Chad)

Marie-Christine Koundja is the first published female author from Chad, and her novels Al-Istifakh, ou, L’idylle de mes amis and Kam-Ndjaha, la dévoreuse are pure poetry wrapped in fiction. She writes about Chad’s landscapes, its people, and the resilience that keeps both standing.

 

11. Faïza Soulé Youssouf (Comoros)

Faïza Soulé Youssouf moves between journalism and fiction like it’s nothing. Her novel Ghizza, à tombeau ouvert blends personal and political, and takes a sharp look at life in Comoros through the eyes of a woman trying to survive.

 

12. Adèle Caby-Livannah (Congo-Brazzaville)

Adèle Caby-Livannah is one of those writers who can tell whole worlds in short stories. Oufana et le papillon bleu and De l’Alsace à l’Afrique: Le voyage de Chona show how much weight a few pages can carry.

 

13. Ghislaine Sathoud (Congo-Kinshasa)

Ghislaine Sathoud has done it all — novels, essays, short stories, poetry — and every piece feels like a love letter to women’s rights. Her book, L’Art de la maternité chez les Lumbu du Congo dives into the rituals of motherhood, while her activism keeps pushing for women’s voices to be heard.

 

14. Mouna-Hodan Ahmed (Djibouti)

Mouna-Hodan Ahmed is one of the rare female voices coming out of Djibouti, and she uses that voice to cut through the noise. Les Enfants du Khat explores how social and political issues shape everyday lives.

 

15. Nawal El Saadawi (Egypt)

Nawal El Saadawi wrote like she was on a mission to set the whole Egyptian system on fire. Through novels, memoirs, and essays, she went after patriarchy, religion, and female oppression with zero chill. Start with Woman at Point Zero, The Hidden Face of Eve, and Memoirs of a Woman Doctor.

 

16. Trifonia Melibea Obono (Equatorial Guinea)

Trifonia Melibea Obono writes like someone who’s had enough of the world’s nonsense. Her books are about gender, sexuality, and the suffocating weight of patriarchy in Equatorial Guinea. La Bastarda — the first English-translated novel by a woman from her country — got banned back home for its queer storyline, but that hasn’t stopped it from making noise worldwide.

 

17. Hannah Azieb Pool (Eritrea)

Hannah Azieb Pool, a British-Eritrean writer and journalist, was born near Keren, Eritrea, amidst the fight for independence from Ethiopia. She writes essays and memoirs, mostly about identity, exile, and belonging. She also champions underrepresented voices through the SI Leeds Literary Prize, proving that some writers do the work both on and off the page.

 

18. Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia)

If historical fiction is your thing, Maaza Mengiste is that girl. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze takes you into the heart of Ethiopia’s 1974 revolution, while The Shadow King flips the script by spotlighting the forgotten women warriors who fought during Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia. Her writing is rich, lyrical, and absolutely unskippable. She has also garnered recognition, including nominations for prestigious awards like the Booker Prize and the Edgar Award for Best Short Story.

 

19. Angèle Rawiri (Gabon)

Angèle Rawiri was one of those women out here writing about women’s inner lives and breaking taboos before it was cool. Her books, like Fureurs et cris de femmes (Fury and Cries of Women), tackle identity, modernity, and the struggle of balancing tradition with the weight of being a woman in Gabon.

 

20. Janet Badjan-Young (The Gambia)

Janet Badjan-Young’s plays are like history lessons wrapped in drama. With works like The Battle of Sankandi, she gives Gambian history a voice, all while making sure women’s stories aren’t just side notes but front and center. In 2012, she was among five Gambian women recognized for their substantial contributions to the nation’s development across various spheres, earning the prestigious “Award of Excellence.” 

 

21. Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana)

Ama Ata Aidoo was writing feminist African literature before the term was even a thing. Our Sister Killjoy and Changes: A Love Story still slap till today. The Dilemma of a Ghost marked her as the first published African female dramatist. Sadly, she passed away in May 2023.

 

22. Mariama Kesso Diallo (Guinea)

Mariama Kesso Diallo, a Guinean author, gained recognition with the publication of her autobiographical novel, La Chance, in 2000. The novel details her escape from Guinea with her children in 1977.

 

23. Odete Semedo (Guinea Bissau)

Odete Semedo, a Guinea-Bissauan author and educator, has made significant contributions to literature and culture. She founded the journal, Revista de Letras, Artes e Cultura Tcholona, and has authored two books of poetry, Entre o Ser e o Amar and No Fundo do Canto, which reflect a deep engagement with themes of identity, love, and the human experience.

 

24. Véronique Tadjo

Véronique Tadjo is celebrated for her timeless novels, poetry, and children’s books. Some of her best works are As the Crow Flies, The Shadow of Imana: Travels in the Heart of Rwanda, and Mamy Wata and the Monster. She has earned prestigious recognition, including the Grand Prix littéraire d’Afrique noire, awarded for outstanding original French texts from Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

25. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (Kenya)

Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor’s short story, Weight of Whispers, made her the second Kenyan woman to ever win the Caine Prize, and she’s been out here serving literary excellence ever since. Her debut novel, Dust, was shortlisted for the Folio Prize in September 2015 and honoured with the prestigious Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature. Owuor was awarded the Woman of the Year in the Arts and Heritage category in 2004. 

 

26. Mpho Matsepo Nthunya (Lesotho)

Mpho Matsepo Nthunya’s Singing Away the Hunger feels like sitting at your grandmother’s feet, listening to her tell stories about survival and what it means to be a woman in rural Lesotho. It’s simple, but it hits where it needs to.

 

27. Helene Cooper (Liberia)

Helene Cooper, a Liberian-American author and journalist, gained acclaim for her memoir, The House at Sugar Beach. She writes about growing up in Liberia, losing everything to civil war, and finding her way back — all with sharp, tender honesty. 

 

28. Najwa Bin Shatwan (Libya)

Najwa Bin Shatwan’s Zareeb Al-Abeed (The Slave Yards) drags Libya’s history of slavery out into the open. Her writing is fearless, she mixes the personal with the political in stories that cut deep. She made history as the first Libyan to be shortlisted for the International Prize of Arabic Fiction. She has several collections of short stories and plays and has contributed to anthologies. Bin Shatwan was also selected as one of the thirty-nine best Arab authors under the age of forty by Hay Festival’s Beirut 39 project in 2009.

 

29. Michèle Rakotoson (Madagascar)

Michèle Rakotoson, a Malagasy author and playwright, is renowned for her novels and theatre productions that explore themes of family, history, and the repercussions of colonialism on Malagasy society. One of her works is the novel Dadabé.

 

30. Upile Chisala (Malawi)

If you’re on Instagram, chances are you’ve seen Upile Chisala’s poems floating around. She’s one of the biggest voices in the Instapoet scene, turning everyday emotions into bite-sized verses that hit harder than they have any right to. She identifies as a “storyteller” and has garnered recognitions such as Forbes Africa’s 30 Under 30.

 

31. Adame Ba Konaré (Mali)

Adame Ba Konaré has been documenting Mali’s history one book at a time. Biographies, essays, fiction like Quand l’ail se frotte a l’encens. Her writing style in this novel has drawn comparisons to the works of French authors Emile Zola and Victor Hugo. She’s always reminding the world that African women are keepers of history, too.

 

32. Mubarkah Bent al-Barra (Mauritania) 

Her translations and collections have kept generations of stories alive, especially the tibra, which is a secret form of love poetry passed between women. She has translated some of these poems into French and has poetry collections, Taranimli-Watanin Wahid (Songs for a Country for All), Al-Shi’r al-Muritani al-Hadith, min 1970 ila 1995 (Modern Mauritanian Poetry, 1970-1995). Also, some of her poetry has been included in English anthologies.

 

33. Ananda Devi Nirsimloo-Anenden (Mauritius)

Ananda Devi Nirsimloo-Anenden primarily writes in French. She has received numerous accolades for her literary works, including the 2024 Neustadt Prize, often referred to as the “American Nobel.” In Eve de ses décombres, she looks at gender violence, identity, and the underbelly of Mauritian society.

 

34. Leila Slimani (Morocco)

Leila Slimani writes the kind of books that make people uncomfortable, but in the best way. Chanson douce (Lullaby) is a psychological thriller about class and motherhood that won her the Prix Goncourt. Her whole body of work is basically one long middle finger to societal taboos. Bonus point: she serves as a French diplomat, holding the role of personal representative of President Emmanuel Macron to the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.

 

35. Paulina Chiziane (Mozambique)

Paulina Chiziane is that writer who holds society by the collar and forces it to look at itself in the mirror. Her novel Niketche: Uma História de Poligamia unpacks polygamy, gender, and power dynamics in Mozambique without sugarcoating a single thing. Fun fact: She was the first Mozambican woman to ever publish a novel. Legend.

 

36. Neshani Andreas (Namibia)

Neshani Andreas wrote for the women who carry whole worlds on their backs without anyone noticing. Her novel, The Purple Violet of Oshaantu, flips the script on how women’s lives are often seen — quiet, small, unimportant — and turns them into stories that demand to be heard.

 

37. Andrée Clair (Niger)

Andrée Clair, born Renée Jung in France, spent her later years in France but is also linked with Niger. She specialized in the study of Africa at the Ethnological Institute at Sorbonne University. Clair was recognized for her ethnographic research in Niger and her children’s books set in Africa. From 1961 to 1974, she served on a cultural mission for the President of Niger. Among her outstanding works is Bemba: An African Adventure.

 

38. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)

You already know. Half of a Yellow Sun. Americanah. Purple Hibiscus. Most recently, Dream Count. Essays that have the whole world arguing about feminism. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been carrying the whole global African literary scene on her back for two decades now. She’s that perfect example of that writer who writes other writers into existence.

 

39. Scholastique Mukasonga (Rwanda)

Mukasonga’s memoir, Cockroaches, will wreck you. She writes about surviving the Rwandan genocide with a voice that’s tender, haunting, and full of quiet strength. She has also received both the Prix Renaudot and the Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma for her book, Our Lady of the Nile.

 

40. Conceição Lima (São Tomé and Príncipe)

Conceição Lima is a São Toméan poet renowned for her captivating and lyrical verses, which explore themes of identity, memory, and the natural world. Start with O Útero da Casa if you want to feel the weight of an entire country’s past in a few lines. 

 

41. Mariama Bâ (Senegal)

If you’ve never read Une si longue lettre (So Long a Letter), please pause everything and fix that. Mariama Bâ wrote one of the most iconic African feminist texts ever; it is a whole masterclass in how women navigate love, polygamy, and grief. Recently, her sole poem, Memories of Lagos, reemerged after 46 years.

 

42. Regina Melanie (Seychelles)

Regina Melanie was a respected writer and poet who dedicated herself to writing poetry and short stories that preserved Seychellois Creole. She carved out space for Seychellois Creole in a literary scene that often tried to erase it. Her book Remor and the anthologies she featured in are proof that small islands can hold big stories. 

 

43. Mariatu Kamara (Sierra Leone)

Mariatu Kamara is celebrated for her memoir, The Bite of the Mango, which details her harrowing journey as a child soldier amidst the chaos of the Sierra Leone Civil War. 

 

44. Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somalia)

Infidel is her life laid bare, from escaping a forced marriage to becoming one of the loudest voices against religious extremism. Controversial, unapologetic prose. Now, she is a vocal champion for Muslim women’s rights and secularism. Her writing has ignited significant discussions on Islam, feminism, and cultural assimilation in Western societies. 

 

45. Nadine Gordimer (South Africa)

Nadine Gordimer’s novels, short stories, and essays are mostly about South Africa’s apartheid and its aftermath. Through works like Burger’s Daughter and July’s People, she explores the toll of racial discrimination and social injustice in South Africa. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991.

 

46. Stella Gaitano (South Sudan)

Stella Gaitano’s narratives often depict the harsh realities faced by individuals from southern Sudan: discrimination, military dictatorship, war, and displacement. Some of her short stories include Withered Flowers and  A Lake the Size of a Papaya Fruit, which won the Ali El-Mek Award in Sudan.

 

47. Leila Aboulela (Sudan)

Leila Aboulela’s books explore what it means to be caught between worlds — African, Muslim, Western — without ever fitting fully into any of them. Start with Minaret or The Translator.

 

48. Sarah Mkhonza (Eswatini)

Sarah Mkhonza’s Weeding the Flowerbeds feels like cracking open a time capsule into Swazi girlhood: the gossip, the schoolyard friendships, and the quiet power women hold even in the smallest corners of society.

 

49. Elieshi Lema (Tanzania)

Elieshi Lema writes with both eyes wide open. Parched Earth and even her children’s books like A Girl Called Neema gently but firmly push Tanzanian society to take a long, hard look at itself.

 

50. Pyabelo Chaold Kouly (Togo)

Pyabelo Chaold Kouly might be one of the few female voices coming out of Togo, but she writes like she’s holding space for every woman whose stories haven’t been told. Her work explores Togolese culture, daily life, and the quiet strength found in ordinary moments.

 

51. Amina Saïd (Tunisia)

Amina Saïd has established herself as a prominent literary voice through her exploration of themes such as love, loss, and the human condition. Her collections, like The Present Tense of the World, blend magical realism with the heartbreak of exile. Alongside her novels, short stories, and essays, Saïd has garnered acclaim for her poetic prowess, with over a dozen collections to her name. 

 

52. Doreen Baingana (Uganda)

Tropical Fish: Tales from Entebbe is that book that feels like a long chat with your older sister; it’s funny, sharp, and full of stories about love, family, and trying to figure out who you are when the world is constantly trying to tell you. The collection received critical acclaim, winning the prestigious Grace Paley Award for Short Fiction in 2003 and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the best first book in the Africa Region in 2006. Also, stories from “Tropical Fish” were finalists for the Caine Prize in 2004 and 2005.

 

53. Ellen Banda-Aaku (Zambia)

Her novel, Patchwork, takes a look at the messiness of family, addiction, and growing up with secrets, and it snagged the Penguin Prize for African Writing while at it.

 

54. Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe)

Her debut novel, Nervous Conditions, was the first English-language book published by a Black Zimbabwean woman. If you’re into coming-of-age stories that don’t sugarcoat the struggle, this one will hit you hard. Notably, Nervous Conditions earned Dangarembga the prestigious Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Africa in 1989, and was recognized by the BBC in 2018 as one of the top 100 books that have shaped the world. 

 

Bonus: More Notable African Female Authors

1. Maïssa Bey
2. Ahlem Mosteghanemi 
3. Unity Dow
4. Lauri Kubuitsile 
5. Sarah Bouyain 
6. Ahdaf Soueif
7. Efua Sutherland
8. Yaa Gyasi
9. Amma Darko
10. Marguerite Abouet
11. Muthoni wa Gichuru
12. Fatema Mernissi 
13. Buchi Emecheta
14. Sefi Atta
15. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
16. Namwali Serpell 

You might also want to check out my blog on facts about famous women authors.

 

And There’s More…

This list barely scratches the surface of all the notable African female authors rewriting the rules of literature. But as a living list, I’ll keep updating it with more names, more books, and more voices that deserve their flowers.

Know an African female author I missed? Drop a comment and put me on!

 

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