Our regular Book Digest segment spotlights new books by Muthoni Muchemi, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Kemi Ashing-Giwa, and Isis Asare.
Hadaa Na Hadithi Nyingine by Muthoni Muchemi
Publisher: Storymoja Publishers
Genre: Fiction
Language: Kiswahili
Where to find it: Storymoja Publishers
Muthoni Muchemi
Muthoni Muchemi has published over forty books for children. Muthoni is also a storyteller and has appeared on stage in many schools in Kenya and beyond. She runs workshops, incorporating storytelling, to help writers develop stories for children and teenagers. She is the chief judge of the Morland Writing Scholarships (UK), and has also judged the Caine Prize for African writers.
Hadaa Na Hadithi Nyingine
Tazama ulimwengu kwa jicho la ndani. Katika Hadaa, pata shauku pale Amadi anapotafuta fedha za kamari za mtandaoni agharimie maisha ya anasa anayoyatamani. Katika Mahali Majani ya Maboga Yanaponawiri, pata uzoefu wa maisha ya msichana mdogo aliyebaki kijijini pamoja na babu na nyanya yake wakati mama yake alienda shuleni mjini. Katika #Nyakati Njema Zaja, gundua iwapo urafiki wa kudumu unaweza kustahimili kejeli za mtandaoni na tofauti za tabaka. Jionee jinsi wanajamii wa pwani wanavyokabiliana na ghadhabu ya mungu wa bahari wa kale katika Mungu wa Baharini. Hadithi hizi na nyinginezo, zinachochea mawazo, zinasisimua na kuvutia mno. Ndizo utakazokumbana nazo katika mkusanyiko huu wa kipekee.
Beautiful Changelings by Maxine Beneba Clarke
Publisher: Ultimo Press
Publication Date: October 28, 2025
Genre: Poetry
Language: English
Where to find it: Hardie Grant
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Maxine Beneba Clarke is the author of over fourteen books for adults and children, including the ABIA and Indie award-winning short fiction collection Foreign Soil, the critically acclaimed bestselling memoir The Hate Race, the self-illustrated picture book When We Say Black Lives Matter, which was longlisted for the UK’s Kate Greenaway medal, and the CBCA Honour Book The Patchwork Bike (illustrated by Van T Rudd), which won the 2019 Boston Globe Horn Prize for Best Picture Book. Her poetry collections include Carrying the World, which won the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry, How Decent Folk Behave, and It’s the Sound of the Thing: 100 new poems for young people, which won the 2024 ABIA for Book of the Year for Younger Readers. Maxine is the inaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence at the University of Melbourne.
Beautiful Changelings
my heart was asking at every turn, and as sure as i breathed: would i want this for my daughter, and if not, why on earth should it be good enough for me
beautiful changelings is an incantation, a song, a war cry, a testimonial, a lament, a reckoning and a welcoming. Wrecking-ball revisitings of the myths, mantras and fairy tales fed to girls. Poignant, unashamed tributes to ageing, womanhood, motherhood, and reclaiming your dreams, your boundaries and your time. This explosive new collection celebrates women and girls as the enigmatic wonders they are: beautiful changelings.
The King Must Die by Kemi Ashing-Giwa
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date: November 4, 2025
Genre: Fiction
Language: English
Where to find it: Simon & Schuster
Kemi Ashing-Giwa
Kemi Ashing-Giwa was born and raised in Southern California, where she grew up on a steady diet of sci-fi and fantasy. She has an undergraduate degree in integrative biology and astrophysics from Harvard University and is currently a PhD student in the Earth and planetary sciences department at Stanford University. She is the author of the novel The Splinter in the Sky and the forthcoming novella This World Is Not Yours.
The King Must Die
From the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Splinter in the Sky comes a pulse-pounding science fiction adventure following the daughter of rebel instigators and the heir of a power-drunk ruler who team up to save their empire…or destroy it in the process.
Fen’s world is crumbling. Newearth, a once-promising planet gifted by the all-powerful alien Makers, now suffers from failed terraforming, leaving its people on the brink of collapse. Fen has spent her life working as a mercenary bodyguard for a cunning magistrate, entangled in the politics of the empire that shattered her family. But then her fathers—her last remaining tether to hope—are executed by the ruthless Sovereign, who marks Fen for the same fate.
With nothing left to lose, Fen escapes with a single map and an old quarterstaff, embarking on a dangerous quest to seek out the last remnants of her parents’ rebellion. But the underground insurgents she finds may be even more dangerous than the Sovereign’s army. At the center of it all stands Alekhai, the Sovereign’s heir—a brutal, power-hungry force of destruction. Though he embodies everything Fen despises, his dangerous plans might be the empire’s last chance at survival…or the final push to its doom.
Perfect for fans of fast-paced dystopian adventures, intergalactic intrigue, and morally complex heroes, The King Must Die weaves an unforgettable story of rebellion, survival, and impossible choices. Will Fen save her world—or ensure its destruction?
Afrofuturism Short Stories (Gothic Fantasy) edited by Isis Asare
Publisher: Flame Tree
Publication Date: November 11, 2025
Genre: Fiction, Anthology
Language: English
Where to find it: Simon and Schuster
Isis Asare
Isis Asare earned a degree in psychology from Stanford University. She then lived in Ghana, her parents’ homeland, as part of the Peace Corps. Her subsequent life chapters include graduate degrees from Columbia Business School and Harvard University, a career in tech at companies such as Microsoft, Shutterfly, and Brightroll, and starting a film entertainment site for queer women of color named Sistah Sinema which Asare sold for 2x revenue in 2010. In 2019, Isis Asare started Sistah Scifi, the first Black owned bookstore focused on science fiction and fantasy. Located primarily in cyberspace, Sistah Scifi launched three Sistah Scifi Book Vending Machine in 2023. In 2024, Isis Asare was selected as the first African American executive director of Aunt Lute Books, a San Francisco based, non-profit feminist press.
Afrofuturism Short Stories (Gothic Fantasy)
Exploring new black literature, following the success of Black Sci-Fi and First Peoples Shared Stories.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture characterises Afrofuturism (as distinct from Africanfuturism) as expressing “notions of Black identity, agency and freedom through art, creative works and activism that envision liberated futures for Black life.” This new book offers new stories from open submissions and by invitation, as well as classic stories, and a new introduction, all exploring the many angles of this theme. It follows the success of Black Sci-Fi (2021) of which Scientific American said “contains a thrilling group of memorable, moving tales that often examine the intersections of race, gender, grief, tech and the fantastical.” and Publishers Weekly, in a Starred Review “With topics ranging from slavery to space travel, the impressive breadth of this anthology makes for a well-rounded survey. Readers, writers, and scholars alike will find great value here.”
The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.
Leave a Reply