Peter Kimani, Ayobami Adebayo, Nnedi Okorafor, and Trevor Noah have made the New York Times Notable Books of 2017.
The New York Times, a US newspaper based in New York City, is one of the most important books in the literary world. Apart from being a publication that covers the literary scene in the US very well, they are also the people who came up with the New York Times Bestseller List starting in 1931.Since then, the list is widely considered to be the granddaddy of best-selling books in the United States and around the world.
Alongside their weekly bestsellers lists a “100 Notable Books of the Year” list is published around the beginning of December. The year’s notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction was selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review representing books that have been reviewed since Dec. 4, 2016. A few books from Africans make the cut and they are;
DANCE OF THE JAKARANDA. By Peter Kimani. (Akashic, paper, $15.95.) This funny, perceptive and ambitious work of historical fiction by a Kenyan poet and novelist explores his country’s colonial past.
STAY WITH ME. By Ayobami Adebayo. (Knopf, $25.95.) This debut novel is a portrait of a marriage in Nigeria beginning in the politically tumultous 1980s.
BORN A CRIME: Stories From a South African Childhood. By Trevor Noah. (Spiegel & Grau, $28.) The host of “The Daily Show” writes about growing up in South Africa under apartheid, and about the country’s rocky transition into the post-apartheid era in the 1990s.
Young Adult
AKATA WARRIOR. By Nnedi Okorafor. (Viking, $18.99.) This enthralling second book about Sunny, an albino Nigerian girl who can do magic, has her mastering her powers to save the world from apocolyptic doom.
You can read the full list of notable books for adults and for kids here.
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