Reading is important because it exposes you to a wide range of experiences outside your own realm of understanding. By reading, hence imagining and day-dreaming about the lives and experiences of other people (even if they have never existed), you open up your mind to the joys and challenges that each human being has to go through. It essentially builds understanding, tolerance and compassion.

I’ve been an avid reader since I learnt the skill. My genres of choice have evolved over the years, but there are a few classics that I believe every human being on that planet should read, not only because they’re so well written, but also because they highlight a world so far removed from most people’s understanding that it provides a humbling experience for the reader.

For most people, the ‘African experience’ is a monophonic tune that begins and ends with exploring a relationship to the land or an identity – but African literature is more than just one experience. What is the ‘African experience’? Well, I don’t really know the answer to that question, but I do believe elements of the answer can be found within the pages of African novels. Here is a list of my favourite African literature classics that I believe everyone must read at least once and why.

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958)

President Barack Obama called it a “masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world,” and he wasn’t lying. I won’t give away the plot, but the story explores how, in trying to escape something, you can sometimes end of finding yourself right in the place you were trying to escape.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006)

This is a modern day classic that every African must read, in my opinion. Not saying anything more…

J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace (1999)

This book changed my life in that it was the first time I’d ever read a novel and felt a character’s trauma through the written word. The content has been called somewhat ‘dull’ but I feel that was intentional – almost to mimic the environment which the novel describes. Its still one of my favourite novels in terms of the written word.

Ngugi wa Thiong’o, A Grain of Wheat (1967)

Another historical classic that highlights the times just before Kenya attained its independence.

Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions (1988)

The first novel of this Zimbabwean writer portrays an African society whose younger generation of women struggle with varying degrees of success and failure. I found it a difficult read at times, but it was definitely worth it.