Toni Kan, Nigerian writer and editor: ” It has the courage to say the unsayable”

Between October 2014 and January 2015 Angela Wachuka AKA Sister Killjoy shared her #100DaysofAfricanReads – a beautiful series of portraits highlighting the work of an African author in print or online each day for 100 days.

Ahead of our own ‘African Books to Inspire’ event at Africa Writes, this week writers photographed for the #100DaysofAfricanReads series will be sharing their top 3 titles from African literature with us.

What are your ‘African Books to Inspire’?

1. The Famished Road by Ben Okri remains my all time favourite book by an African author because of its epic scale and the riotous mix of myth, magic and realism with a language that evokes all that is magical and sad and beautiful about Africa.

2. Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Atta comes second because it does not just evoke the spirit, the sounds, the smell of Lagos – it is a love story to a city I love told with tenderness and sharp wit.

3. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie because it has the courage to say the unsayable and to bear witness as both historical document and riveting fiction which tells profoundly human stories set in a time of crisis.

Toni Kan, Nigerian writer (Nights of the Creaking Bed) and editor

This Friday 3rd July at the British Library journalist Hannah Pool will be talking to Africa39 writers Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Ndinda Kioko, Nadifa Mohamed, Chibundu Onuzo and Nii Ayikwei Parkes about their favourite African literature titles. Join us to continue this conversation and for an evening of books and inspiration.