African Speculative Fiction

It's almost three years since I put together my first list on African Science Fiction, which included works from Lauren Beukes, J M Coetzee, Kojo Laing, Nnedi Okorafor and Abdourahman Waberi. I followed up that post last summer to reflect the exciting and fun times for African Science Fiction. Well, a lot has happened on the scene in the last few year, so I am adding to the first two lists to further reflect these changes. I'm also using the broader term - speculative fiction (broadly Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror), but if you're going to be specific there are sub-genres (I will not reveal the extent of my geekyness, but you can read more here :)). 
Paradoxa's 'African Sf: Introduction' provides a great overview of African sf and is like a go-to list for African sf. Going as far back as 1863 where the continent was more of just a 'feature [in] scientific expeditions' to works by 'indigenous Africans, either written in or translated into English' such as Mohammed Dib's Who Remembers the Sea (1962), as well as 'African sf texts in indigenous languages - such as UK-based Zimbabwean Masimba Musodza's MunaHacha Maive Nei? (2012)'

Here are some more speculative fiction novels that have been published in the last few years.




Fox & Raven (an SA Indie Publisher of Speculative Fiction) have published some really cool books I've been wanting to read. They'll also be publishing Cristy Zinn's first middle-grade/teen fantasy novel The Dreamer's Tears in March 2015. Really enjoyed her short story Five Sets of Hands in AfroSF so definitely looking forward to her debut novel.

For more speculative fiction, especially from South Africa check out Dave-Brendon de Burgh's post on SA writers and publishers of speculative fiction. See also Tor.com's Under the Radar: (Even More) South African Genre Fiction. 
The excitement continues as last week a new speculative fiction e-magazine, Omenena arrived. Curated and edited by Mazi Nwonwu and Chinelo Onwualu, Omenana is a platform where speculative fiction from Nigeria can be achored. Additionally, Jalada's second anthology, Afrofuture(s), will be centred on Afrofuturism and AfroSF, while Short Story Day Africa will also be publishing a speculative fiction anthology, Terra Incognita, with the longlisted stories. Finally, Malawian author, Shadreck Chikoti, announced last month about a book being published in the near future with 'stories [that] will be set 500 years from now ... about Africa'.

And there's more. Next year (May 5, 2015 to be exact), Nnedi Okorafor The Book of Phoenix will be published by DAW Books. This is the prequel to her 2010 World Fantasy Award-winning novel Who Fears Death. 

North African Speculative Fiction should not be left out and I would like to do another post focusing on that, but Arab Literature (in English) has written a lot on Arab Sci-Fi and particularly on Arab SF in translation, if you're interested.