We wrap up book news for our readers in our regular Book Digest segment with books from Ahmed Naji, Charles Siboto, and Djaïli Amadou Amal.
Egypt + 100 Stories from a Century after Tahrir Edited by Ahmed Naji
Publisher: Comma Press
Date: July 25, 2025
Genre: Fiction, Anthology
Language: English (Translation from Arabic)
Where to find it: Comma Press
Ahmed Naji
Ahmed Naji is an Egyptian journalist and novelist. He has written numerous journalistic and critical articles and published three books: Rogers, Seven Lessons Learned from Ahmed Makky, and The Use of Life.
Contributors: Ahmed Fakharany, Azza Sultan, Belal Fadl, Camellia Hussein, Michel Hanna, Mansoura Ez Eldin, Nora Nagi, Heba Khamis, Mohamed Kheir, Ahmed Naji, Ahmed Wael & Yasmine El Rashidi
Translated by: Majd Abu Shawish, Robin Moger, Andrew Leber, Elisabeth Jaquette, Mohammed Ghalayini, Raphael Cohen, Raph Cormack, Paul Starkey, Mayada Ibrahim, Basma Ghalayini. Maisa Almanasreh, and Rana Asfour.
Egypt + 100 Stories from a Century after Tahrir
Egypt + 100 poses a question to twelve contemporary Egyptian authors: what might your country look like in the year 2111 – exactly a century after the failed Tahrir Square Revolution? Might Egypt still be in the grip of ‘friendly authoritarianism’, clinging to power with all the weapons of futurism at its disposal: protest-avoidant architecture, excessive surveillance, the slow replacement of the outside world with the virtual one. Or might other historical forces come into play, pairing pragmatism with tolerance, and realising some of the lost aspirations of the long-cancelled ‘Arab Spring’.
Covering a range of styles – from SF noir, to supernatural horror, to political farce – these stories use the blank canvas of the future to process recent traumas that Egypt has yet to come to terms with. Along the way, we encounter gladiatorial entertainments, anti-procreation resistance movements, the decline of Cairo into a lawless wasteland, far from the gated security of the New Capital, and the simultaneous flooding of lower Egypt with the drying up of the Nile. Each story offers an object lesson in the strange logic of authoritarianism, and how, as the editor puts it, politicians’ fantasies ‘eventually become the citizens’ worst nightmares.’
Le Harem Du Roi by Djaïli Amadou Amal
Publisher: Emmanuelle Collas Editions
Date: August 19, 2024
Genre: Fiction
Language: French
Where to find it: Babelio, Amazon
Djaïli Amadou Amal
Djaili Amadou Amal is a Cameroonian writer and feminist activist.
Le Harem Du Roi
Seini, a doctor, and Boussoura, a literature professor, lead a fulfilling life in Yaoundé. When Seini, the king’s son, is called to succeed his father, he cannot resist the lure of power, despite his wife’s reservations. Having become a lamido, commander of the faithful and guarantor of traditions and religion, he transforms himself into an all-powerful sovereign.
Bald Dandelions With Their Wishes Blown Clean Off!
Publisher: Huza Press
Date: May 20, 2024
Genre: Fiction, Short Stories, Anthology
Language: English
Where to find it: African Books Collective,
Contributors
Mona Liban, Aisha Ali Haji, Hamdi Ali, Nebila Abdulmelik, Lucky Grace Isingizwe, Jimcale Abdi Faarah, Salma Ismail, Abdihakin Ubahle, Gary Layn, Alexis Teyie
Bald Dandelions With Their Wishes Blown Clean Off
These ten stories, emerging from Rwanda, Kenya, Somaliland, Somalia, and Ethiopia, highlight new African voices that share bold combinations of openness and curiosity，nuance and bravery. From fiery femme tongues, broken colonial languages and tender queer subjectivities, to the complexities of embracing and rebelling against tradition via a young girl’s battle to attain education, and a story about chronic illness, their narratives revisit old themes in radical and experimental ways. Engaging with love and hate, crime and domestic Violence, passion and myth, resilience and family, this anthology illuminates and enacts the unbound commonality of African lives inspite of exaggerated national boundaries.
The Legend of Mamlambo by Charles Siboto
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa.
Date: July 2024
Genre: Fiction,
Language: English
Where to find it: Penguin Random House South Africa
Charles Siboto
Charles Siboto studied at the University of Johannesburg. He worked as an editor for children’s and youth literature for four years. Storytelling is his specialty and he finds inspiration in everything from literature to popular culture to technical innovation. He recently relocated to Germany with his wife, where he is teaching English and working as a freelance editor, proofreader and writer. He is one of the three part team behind The Blacksmith and the Dragonfly.
The Legend of Mamlambo
Amiah hates moving. What was her mother thinking, moving them away from Cape Town to this strange little town in Joburg South? Meeting Teedo, a strange kid with even stranger conspiracy theories, doesn’t make her feel any better. However, after getting to know him and the rest of the group, she quickly realises there might be some truth to his crazy claims.
Something strange really is going on in Spookfontein, as the other kids call the town, and it has something to do with the water tower. Could the legend of Mamlambo, the snake-like water goddess, actually be more than just a story?
Please support our work at Writing Africa with a one-off donation or regularly on Mobile Money, PayPal, or Patreon starting at US$3 a month by clicking here.
Leave a Reply