What makes a great bookshelf is a range of perspectives. Reading the work of writers from all backgrounds, cultures and continents not only enriches your library, but your worldview. Awareness months serve a purpose, but confining certain voices to a calendar slot is a diminishment. The work exists year-round, and so does the reason to read it.
These six authors use their writing to explore their cultures and histories – bringing fresh terms of reference, bold social reflections and narratives that resist easy translation. Read them in any season.
Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
Glory is a satirical allegory that looks at a fictionalised Zimbabwe, populated by animals who witness their former tyrant being overthrown and the rise of another. Throughout the novel, NoViolet plays with Orwellian metaphors, nodding to Animal Farm through its evocative examination of what can happen in the aftermath of colonialism. A poignant reflection on the 2017 coup against Robert Mugabe, and the perpetual cycle of trauma and corruption that is so hard to break.
Scattered All Over The Earth by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani
Imagine a world in which no one spoke your language? In this speculative book, Japan has disappeared due to climate change and character Hiruko, now in Denmark, takes a trip across Europe to find people who still speak her mother tongue. The book is a witty, darkly funny love letter to language and identity.
So Long A Letter by Mariama Bâ, translated by Modupe Bode-Thomas
This epistolary semi-autobiographical novel, first written in French by Senegalese writer Mariama, is a deep exploration of being a woman in West Africa in the 1970s. As the book charts, this was a time when contemporary ideas and traditional culture were increasingly clashing with one another – echoes of which can still be felt within the country today. Central character Ramatoulaye sends the letter that forms the book to her best friend after her husband’s death, exploring the tension between her feminist values and her religion and culture. The novel gives readers an insight into Senegal’s class hierarchy, polygamy and the place of women from someone who was living through it.
Conjure Women by Afia Atakora
Superstition and legacy are at the forefront of this tale, set in a small American settlement on a former plantation in the immediate days after slavery was abolished in the American South. It centres around Rue, a young healer, conjurer and midwife born into slavery who must battle suspicion, fear and protect her secrets after a baby is born that is deemed a bad omen. As their community becomes divided, Rue must find a way to move forward. An eerie and poignant tale that centres on the lives of women throughout this pivotal moment in history.
Co-Wives, Co-Widows by Adrienne Yabouza, translated by Rachel McGill
In the first novel from the Central African Republic to be translated into English, we meet Ndongo Passy and Grekpoubou, two women who share a husband. When he dies suddenly, they must fight tooth and nail for what is important to them. This is a complex portrayal of African polygamy, offering a perspective on relationships often unheard in the West, along with deep explorations of love, female friendship and women’s rights in the face of a patriarchal society.
Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko
This book is like having a conversation with an Australian – fitting, since author Melissa is Indigenous Australian, born in Brisbane. It’s raw, bold and hilarious, centring on Kerry Salter, a member of a First Nations family who usually spends her time dodging the police (thanks to the aforementioned ‘too much lip). When her dad becomes sick, she has to pause her spree and head home – where she becomes enveloped in a bid to protect her family’s ancestral land. The book doesn’t waste time, pulling you into a world of suffering, survival, love and the legacy of systematic oppression in Australia, from the very first page.
