Trevor Noah’s memoir Born a Crime is a funny and insightful account of growing up in pre and post-Apartheid South Africa as a biracial boy and doubles as a paean to his mother, Patricia, whose significant presence in the book marks her undeniable influence over the comedian’s life.
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Okey Ndibe’s memoir derives its comical title from a string of advice an uncle had given Ndibe on the eve of his maiden voyage to America. “And the first thing to remember is this: Never look an American in the eye… They take it as an insult,” the uncle intones. “If they catch you, a stranger, looking them in the face, they will shoot.”
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Ayòbámi Adébáyò’s Bailey’s-shortlisted, debut novel Stay With Me is an engaging story about the pressures a childless couple encounters in contemporary Nigeria, where children—more than love—are often deemed the centripetal force of a marriage.
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“The window was one of many, the town was one. It was the only one, the one I left behind,” reads the epigraph in Teju Cole’s debut novel Every Day is for the Thief. Written like a travel diary, the story pieces together the unnamed narrator’s perception of Lagos after a long absence.
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