L ife in urban areas of west Africa , one of the most diverse regions on Earth, is often a daily roller-coaster ride spiced by abundant drama and an astonishing array of striking characters. Many writers have attempted to capture a slice of all that happens in the region’s biggest cities. Here’s a selection of some of the books that stand out.
Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie One of the most popular titles from Francophone Africa, the graphic novel series Aya de Yopougon has been a bestseller since its debut volume was published in 2005. The first books by French-Ivorian writer Marguerite Abouet were set in the 1970s in Abidjan, commercial capital of Ivory Coast , as the country experienced economic boom and became the world’s largest cocoa producer. Brought to life by Clément Oubrerie’s illustrations, the early stories follow the many twists in the life of a teenager in the working-class commune of Yopougon, the city’s largest and most colourful part.
By the time of the seventh volume, which came out in the UK earlier this year, the characters are all grown up and it’s the 80s, with corruption in Abidjan on the rise. The series has been translated into more than 15 languages and adapted for screen. Jagua Nana by Cyprian Ekwensi This epic tale of an ageing sex worker’s life in 1960s Lagos is one of the best works by Ekwensi, whose technique of keeping things simple made him a favourite of many young readers.
But his novels were complex melodrama.
