Literature

WORKS OF INDIGENOUS AFRICAN SPECULATIVE FICTION & THEIR FOLKLORE

The authors of the following books have chosen to make African folklore a central part of the stories being told. Included is a bit about the author, a brief synopsis of the books, and some of the various folklore essential to the books.

Many critics, scholars, writers, and movie producers make the claim Africa is not ready for pure science fiction, or what scholars call hard science fiction (science fiction based on technology), because the themes are not relevant to Africans. Movies like Star Wars and those produced for the Marvel Cinematic Universe often do not do well in Africa. "Africans are bothered about issues of bad leadership...roads, electricity, water wars, famine, etc, not spacecrafts and spaceships" (Okorafor). However, there is science fiction coming out of Africa. There is not a lot of it, but it is there. It mostly takes the form of soft science fiction (science fiction based on people) that blurs the line between science fiction and fantasy.

To be fair, there is not a lot of writing in general coming out of Africa, not when compared with the western countries. On average, Africa produces around 19,400 books a year. That may seem like a lot, but consider Penguin Random House, one of the big 5 publishers, puts out 85K books a year alone, Africa produces a very small number of the of approximate 4 million books published a year. Consider the estimate number of Black authors from African and the diaspora combined, counting for only 5.93% of all authors. The adjusted number for white African writers and white Westerners living in Africa is does not make any significant change to the number of African books put out each year.

The books contained on this page are the only books of Indigenous African speculative fiction books that could be found published by Africans. This does not mean there are not more, it just means Indigenous African speculative fiction makes up a minute number of books coming out of Africa.

SON OF THE STORM BY SUYI DAVIS OKUNGBOWA
(NIGERIA)

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:
Warrior of the Wind (November 2023)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Suyi Davis Okungbowa, grew up in Benin, Nigeria and obtained a civil engineering degree from the University of Benin where both his parents teach. He later got his MFA from the University of Arizona and now teaches creative writing in Ottawa, Canada. He splits his time between Canada and Benin.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Son of the Storm follows Danso, a scholar and storyteller and how his choice to help an outsider changes the course of not only his life, but that of the world he lives in.

FOLKLORE IN SON OF THE STORM:

Much attention is paid to the importance of the jali and the oral tradition of story telling.
How the caste system in African countries correlates skin color with that of the African soil.
There is mention of many mythical African creatures
Traditional African medicine is an important part of the story.
The folklore of chickens and leopards plays a part in the story as well as the funeral rights of Benin chiefs
The Yorba trickster god, Ashu, is mentioned throughout the book.

THE LIBRARY OF THE DEAD BY T..L. HUCHU
(ZIMBABWE)

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:
Our Lady of the Mysterious Ailments
The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle (August 2023)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tendai Huchu writes his young adult fiction under the name T.L. Huchu.. Born in Zimbabwe, he attended the University of Zimbabwe and is now a podiatrist in Edinburg, He chose Edinburg as the setting for Library of the Dead because, in part, the parallels between Scotland 300 years ago and Zimbabwe today.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Ropa is a ghostalker in dystopia Edinburg who is called upon by one of the spirts she communicates with to find a missing boy. The search leads her to a mysterious library whose patrons belong to a secret magical society where she is apprenticed to one of it's members.

FOLKLORE IN LIBRARY OF THE DEAD:

Chivanhu - the traditional Zimbabwe spiritual practice centering on communing with ones ancestors
The role of the mbira dzaiadzimu ("voice of the ancestors") in religious ceremonies and how it is different from a traditional mbira - including hers being made from the Mubvamaropa Tree
- there is much folklore around the Mubvamaropa Tree making it an interesting choice for her mbira.
Zimbabwe magic.
Offers an interesting look at the folklore/sociolinguistics of language. through language usage.

THE GILDED ONES BY NAMINA FORNA
(SIERRA LEONE)

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:
The Merciless Ones

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Namina Forna was born in Sierra Leone and spent most of her childhood there. She and her mother immigrated to Georgia upon her mothers divorce and the civil war taking place in Sierra Leone. Today she travels back and forth to Sierra Leone, works as a screenwriter, and is the first YA author from Sierra Leone to land a major book deal.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Deka's dark skin, like that of her mother, marks her as an outsider in her village. When her blood turns gold she is branded as alaki, a near immortal demon. A mysterious woman arrives to rescue her from the death mandate and offers her a place in a the emperor's special army where she learns more about herself than she ever thought possible.

FOLKLORE IN THE GILDED ONES:

The traditions, customs, and social roles of bundu in Sierra Leone
Stories of the asanbosam, a West African vampiric creature
The five major goddess of West Africa become paramount toward the end of the book
Purity culture being dictated by religious folklore
Various folk traditions of the Mende people including female warriors, facial masks, and initiation masquerades

AFRICA RISEN EDITED BY SHEREE RENEE THOMAS, OGHENECHOVWE
DONALD EKPEKI AND ZELDA KNIGHT

ABOUT THE BOOK: Africa Risen contains 33 short stories from across Africa and the African diaspora. The stories listed are just a few by Indigenous African Speculative Fiction Writers that are rich in African folklore.

THE BLUE HOUSE BY DILMAN DILA: (UGANDA) The Blue House is a solarpunk short story about a robot who malfunctions and remembers she was once organic.
THE FOLKLORE: The importance of ones ancestors. The folktale about swallowed seeds growing in ones stomach makes an appearance.

A DREAM OF ELECTRIC MOTHERS BY WOLE TALBI: (NIGERIA) Memrionic copies of all deceased citizens are added to a supercomputer that serves as a network or digital ancestors that are turned to for advice for the nation.
THE FOLKORE: Communing with the ancestors, the societal importance of the Babalawo, and Ifa, the Yorba religion of divination

THE SOUL WOULD HAVE NO RAINBOW BY YBETTE LISA NDLOVU: (ZIMBABWE) A girl inherits an intersting cookbook from her grandmother upon her death.
THE FOLKLORE: Shapeshifters (Nomkhubulwane), Gogo Magera, the Zimbabwe folklore around the preying mantis is central to the story as well as the story of Modjadji

THE LADY OF THE YELLOW PAINTED LIBRARY BY TOBI OGUNDIRAN (NIGERIA): One man finds out what happens when you don't return a library book.
THE FOLKLORE: This is an Agadzagadza (Nigerian trickster god) story.

ROSEWATER BY TADE TOMPSON
(NIGERIA)

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:
The Rosewater Insurrection
The Rosewater Redemption

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tade Thompson was born in the UK to Yorba parents but grew up and attended university in Nigeria. He studied medicine (specializing in psychiatry) and social anthropology, both which have help add a very realistic quality to his books. Rosewater won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2019.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Science Fiction/Cyberpunk take on Nigeria in the year 2066. The main character and unreliable narrator, Kaaro, is a morally grey government agent and citizen of the town of Rosewater. Rosewater has been built around an alien biodome that opens once a year and heals the people around it. Some people, like Kaaro, have developed psychic powers from the biodome, other have been healed of injury and disease, sometimes with unexpected consequences. When things start to go south, it's up to Kaaro to find out why.

FOLKLORE IN ROSEWATER:

The novel contains a folk hero. While he isn't African, he does hold importance to the story.
Yoruba proverbs play a part in the novel and are usually written in Yoruba as a way of connection to the past, as the book takes place in the future.
An urban legend was created specifically for this novel that contains elements from well known Nigerian urban legends.
Keero is a "finder" and originally believed his talent came from the ancestors and a form of divination.
Spirit possession in the way of what is called demon dreams by the Yoruba.
Yoruba "sand writing" or geomancy divination.
Nigerian 419 scams and the folklore around them carry into the future.
One of the characters is believed to have an actual angel as a father - this is folklore that came out of colonization and the merging of traditional African religions with Evangelical Christianity.
Wormwood - the alien presence was named Wormwood (the series is also called The Wormwood Trilogy). Wormwood is steeped in folklore. A native plant to Africa, it has been used in traditional African medicine to cure a number of things. The alien biodome opens once a year to cure those around it of disease. While wormwood can cause adverse reactions, including seizures, the healings don't always go quite right, causing deformities. There is also Biblical folklore attached to wormwood and Christian eschatology It appears in the book of Revelation as a star that falls to earth and poisons the waters. The name is fitting in both ways.

A FLEDGLING ABIBA BY DILMAN DILA
(UGANDA)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:: Dilman Dila grew up in Tororo, Uganda, less than 10 miles from the Kenya boarder. He has a BA from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. It is the largest and oldest university in Uganda, established in 1922. Dila received a BA in Social Science (Political Science concentration) and Economics. He still resides in Uganda and is a writer, filmmaker, and social activist.

ABOUT THE BOOK:: Kuri is an orphaned teenager with the ability to steal thoughts from others, and fart fire. She gets caught up helping save her world from a sorcerous plague that she holds the cure for while searching for a home and family.

FOLKLORE IN A FLEDGLING ABIBA:

Social linguistics. Dila uses words from a number of Ugandan and Kenyan languages (Dila speaks both Luo and Bantu language). His authors note at the start of the book explains that indigenous words were used where appropriate and other times he has made up words and the English translation of many of the words has a negative connotation because of colonization and the demonization of traditional African religions by Christianity and Islam.
Ancestor worship
Possession by demons
"Visiting the bush" - rite of womanhood to prepare for marriage
The social stigma of being the widow of someone who has died from Loa Loa, or African Eye Worm. It is believed that only people with bad morals die this way and that it can be passed on via sex. It also parallels how people treat the widows of those who have died of HIV/AIDS.
Mount Masaba (also known as Mount Elgon) - an inactive shield volcano near the Uganda/Kenya boarder. The base is home to four tribes from both Uganda and Kenya. The top of the mountain is believed to be a mystical place.
Cannibalism
Bachwezi People being demigods. Being the daughter of a Bachwezi demigod accounts partly for Kuri's powers.
Polygamy in African society
There are elements of stories taken from Ugandan legends and myths that make up the folklore of the world Dila has created.