YA Eco Mysteries, Memoirs, Novels & Travel
African Authors
04/04/11 12:00 Filed in: Memoirs
I received this interesting letter. Any suggestions for adding memoirs to my link are welcome. (e-mail cldatnow@me.com)
I’m a 60-year-old white woman, raised in the American south, who belongs to a small book club. Some of the members, including myself, are getting ready to travel to Africa for pleasure; so the current book club selection is Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux. As soon as I started the book I began comparing it to at least three other African memoirs I’ve read: West with the Night, Out of Africa, The Gods of Noonday, all by women. I’ve also read Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible. Now it occurs to me that all these books are written by whites though most grew up or lived in Africa. So I did an Internet search for memoirs about Africa written by black Africans and came up with Claire Datnow’s list on Amazon. Only the first book, by Nelson Mandela, is authored by a black African. Do you happen to know other memoirs written by black Africans? I’d so like to read stories from their perspective.
My Response:
My publisher passed your email on to me. I am the author of the list on Amazon, and of the memoir, Behind the Walled Garden of Apartheid: Growing Up White in Segregated South Africa. I have listed two books by black African authors, Nelson Mandela and Mark Mathabane. I plan to add books to my Listmania that will include more black African authors. In the meantime, here are some suggestions from an NYU web site:
http://map.cas.nyu.edu/docs/CP/2638/9505adams111b.pdf
To see the list go to:
http://www.amazon.com/My-Favorite-African-Memoirs/lm/RCNI55MS7O0Q5/ref=cm_lmt_srch_f_2_rsrsrs0
My Response:
My publisher passed your email on to me. I am the author of the list on Amazon, and of the memoir, Behind the Walled Garden of Apartheid: Growing Up White in Segregated South Africa. I have listed two books by black African authors, Nelson Mandela and Mark Mathabane. I plan to add books to my Listmania that will include more black African authors. In the meantime, here are some suggestions from an NYU web site:
http://map.cas.nyu.edu/docs/CP/2638/9505adams111b.pdf
To see the list go to:
http://www.amazon.com/My-Favorite-African-Memoirs/lm/RCNI55MS7O0Q5/ref=cm_lmt_srch_f_2_rsrsrs0