While we anxiously wait for the announcement of this year’s Booker Prize winner; which has as one of the shortlisted our beloved writer, Chigozie Obioma, here are the only four books by African writers that have won the prestigious Booker Prize, since its debut in 1969.
1. The Conservationist – By Nadine Gordimer
Joint winner of the 1974 Booker Prize, The Conservationist cycles around apartheid. Like most of Gordimer’s books, The Conservationist is no less a book of political activism, a voice risen against the evil of apartheid.
2. Life & Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee
Winner of the 1983 Booker Prize, Life & Times of Michael K follows the story of Michael K, a poor man who finds himself in a country torn apart by civil war. The state of the country takes a toll on him, and K experiences a rebirth after a long period of self-induced starvation.
3. Famished Road – By Ben Okri
First book in a trilogy that continues with Songs of Enchantment and Infinite Riches, The Famished Road, winner of the 1991 Booker Prize, is a fantasy novel that follows the story of Lazaro, who is also the narrator. A spirit child born into the poverty and suffering of a modern West African slum.
4. Disgrace – By J.M. Coetzee
Winner of the 1999 Booker Prize, Disgrace, set in post-apartheid South Africa, follows the story of David Lurie, a professor and a twice divorcee, who lives a simple a life as possible. But when he sleeps with his student, a chain reaction occurs and he is disgraced.
