Each of these anticipated books promises to keep us occupied with stories, feelings, and facts about Africa.
By Afrocritik’s Editorial Board
2024 has been wrapped up as far as the publication of books goes. As we emerge into 2025, we are more excited by the literary gems it promises to give us.
The most significant news to this effect is the imminent publication of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s fourth novel, Dream Count, in March, her first since 2013’s Americanah.
As it is to be expected, a novel by arguably Africa’s most famous author is a rapturous event and all book lovers are waiting with bated breath. Other African heavy hitters with books coming out include Nnedi Okoroafor, Mukoma wa Ngugi, Chika Unigwe, and Eloghosa Osunde.
Next year too, there are many debut works coming out from the likes of Bankole, Adjepong, Jones, and others.
Many of these debuts are poetry, which is an unsurprising continuation of the African poetry explosion in recent years, as African poets of this generation begin to come of age. Each of these books promises to keep us occupied with stories, feelings, and facts about Africa; hence our excitement.
Death of the Author – Nnedi Okorafor
Expected Release Date: 14 January, 2025
In Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor tells the story of Zelu, a disabled writer facing career setbacks and family pressures. After a series of disappointments, Zelu finds solace in writing a science fiction novel about a post-human world.
This unexpected creative endeavor not only transforms her life but also blurs the lines between reality and fiction. Okorafor explores themes of family, identity, and the power of storytelling in this poignant and ambitious novel that questions the very nature of existence.
African Urban Echoes – Editors Jide Salawu and Rasaq Malik (Griots Lounge Canada)
Expected Release Date: 15 January, 2025
African Urban Echoes is an anthology of poetry and photography that explores the complexities of urban life in Africa. Through evocative imagery and poignant words, it highlights the challenges and hopes of these dynamic spaces.
Editors: Jide Salawu and Rasaq Malik curate a collection that uses art to illuminate the struggles and triumphs within African cities, urging readers to listen to the stories that resonate from their concrete jungles. The poets and photographers within this anthology serve as guides, leading us through the intricate maze of urban Africa.
The Cleaner – Mary Watson (Bantam)
Expected Release Date: 16 January, 2025.
From Mary Watson comes a novel about revenge and deception. Esmie is cleaner but while she seemingly cleans the home of the wealthy class, she also gathers secrets and hidden dirt on them with a sinister intent to have a pound of flesh from those who had taken something precious from her.
Phases – Tramaine Suubi (HarperCollins)
Expected Release Date: 28 January, 2025
In their debut collection, Phases, Tramaine Suubi channels the emotional intensity of Rita Dove, crafting poems that crackle with energy and explore the transformative power of the moon’s cycles. Like the tides, Suubi’s verse ebbs and flows, capturing the spectrum of human emotion from anxiety to ecstasy.
With a focus on metamorphosis and healing, Phases invites readers to embrace the raw, unguarded beauty of Suubi’s words and find solace in the cyclical rhythms of nature, the body, and ancestral wisdom.
Buried in the Chest – Lindani Buyanza (Jacana Media)
Expected Release Date: January, 2025
In Buried in the Chest, author Lindani Buyanza tells the story of Unathi, a young South African woman searching for her mother in the aftermath of apartheid.
Raised by her grandmother, Unathi grapples with her sexuality, cultural heritage, and the complexities of identity in a changing society. As she explores her own desires and navigates the challenges of belonging, Unathi must confront the masks she wears and find the courage to embrace her true self.
The Edge of Water – Olufunke Grace Bankole (Tin House)
Expected Release Date: 4 February, 2025
Bankole’s debut is a multi-generational family saga about a Nigerian family. Set between New Orleans, United States and Nigeria, it’s the story of a prophecy and a young woman who dreams of life in America.
Years later, Amina is faced with a dilemma as she watches the imminent destruction of everything she holds dear by a hurricane. The questions she begins to ask will take her back to a mother she barely knows.
Follow Me to Africa – Penny Haw (SourceBooks)
Expected Release Date: 25, February, 2025
Follow Me to Africa tells the story of Grace, a teenager grieving her mother, who travels to Tanzania to assist legendary paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey. As Grace helps Mary organize her life’s work, she learns about Mary’s own journey of self-discovery, her groundbreaking career, and her passionate love for Africa.
Their lives become intertwined, revealing unexpected connections and a shared love for the natural world. This historical fiction explores intergenerational friendship, the power of mentorship, and the legacy of women who have shaped our understanding of the past.
Dream Count – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Penguin Random House)
Expected Release Date: 4 March, 2025
In 2025, after a decade of anticipation, acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie returns with Dream Count, a novel exploring the intertwined lives of four women grappling with love, betrayal, and self-discovery.
Amidst the chaos of a global pandemic, travel writer Chiamaka confronts past regrets and lost love while her lawyer friend Zikora navigates betrayal and unexpected solace. In Nigeria, Omelogor, a successful finance executive, grapples with self-doubt, and Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, faces a crisis that threatens her hard-won stability.
Adichie masterfully dissects these women’s lives with unflinching clarity, examining themes of happiness, honesty, and the enduring bonds between mothers and daughters. Dream Count is expected to be a lyrical and powerful reflection on the human heart, solidifying Adichie’s position as a literary luminary.
Ghana to the World – Eric Adjepong (Penguin Random House)
Expected Release Date: 11, March, 2025
Chef Eric Adjepong’s debut cookbook, Ghana to the World, is a celebration of West African cuisine. Inspired by the Ghanaian proverb ‘Sankofa’ (to go back and get it), the book blends traditional recipes with modern techniques, showcasing the rich flavors of Adjepong’s heritage.
With 100 recipes, personal essays, and stunning photography, Ghana to the World is a culinary journey that explores family, tradition, and the chef’s own personal connection to his roots.
Everything Is Fine Here – Iryn Tushabe (House Of Anansi Press)
Expected Release Date: 22, April, 2025
In Everything Is Fine Here, Iryn Tushabe tells the story of Aine, an 18-year-old Ugandan girl whose life is disrupted by her sister’s return with a female partner. In a country where homosexuality is criminalized, Aine must navigate family tensions, societal pressures, and her own burgeoning feelings for another woman.
As she grapples with love, identity, and the consequences of defiance, Aine embarks on a journey of self-discovery, ultimately choosing between the safety of conformity and the freedom to love authentically.
Grace – Chika Unigwe (Canongate Books)
Expected Release Date: April, 2025
Chika Unigwe, through Grace, tells the story of a successful Nigerian woman whose seemingly perfect life is shattered by the arrival of her estranged mother.
Years ago, at 15, Grace gave up a child for adoption, a secret that now threatens to destroy her marriage and her reputation. As she confronts her past and the moral complexities of her choices, Grace must decide whether her family can forgive her and whether she can ever truly reconcile with the child she abandoned.
Harmattan Season – Tochi Onyebuchi (Macmillan Publishers)
Expected Release Date: 27 May, 2025
In Harmattan Season, Tochi Onyebuchi delivers a hard-boiled fantasy noir set in postcolonial West Africa. Boubacar, a jaded private eye, is drawn into a dangerous investigation involving a mysterious woman and a city teetering on the brink of chaos.
As he uncovers a web of secrets, Boubacar must confront his past and decide what he’s willing to sacrifice for the truth. This gripping novel, from the author of “Riot Baby,” blends fantasy with noir, delivering a thrilling and unforgettable reading experience.
Dearly Beloved: Prince, Spirituality, and This Thing Called Life – Pamela Ayo Yetunde (Broadleaf Books)
Expected Release Date: April, 2025
Yetunde’s book, Dearly Beloved: Prince, Spirituality, and This Thing Called Life, explores the spiritual dimension of Prince’s music. Beyond his iconic hits, Yetunde argues that Prince was a modern-day prophet, his music a form of divine expression.
She contends that his songs, with their blend of funk, rock, and soul, offered sermons of life, love, and spirituality. Dearly Beloved: Prince, Spirituality, and This Thing Called Life invites readers to recognise the profound spiritual impact of Prince’s music, challenging the traditional boundaries between art and theology.
Necessary Fiction – Eloghosa Osunde (Masobe Books)
Expected Release Date: 19, June, 2025
Necessary Fiction sees Eloghosa Osunde explores the complex lives of queer individuals in contemporary Nigeria. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Lagos, this novel follows a diverse cast of characters grappling with family, freedom, and identity in a society that often demands conformity.
Through their interconnected stories, Osunde examines the delicate balance between love, obligation, and the necessary fictions people create to survive. This insightful novel delves into the challenges and triumphs of finding belonging and living authentically in a world that often seeks to constrain.
Tiny Things Are Heavier – Esther Ifésináchi Okonkwo (Bloomsbury)
Expected Release Date: 24 June 2025
Another debut novel about family, love, and belonging. Tiny Things Are Heavier follows Sommy, a young woman who comes to the America from Nigeria to attend graduate school a couple of days after her brother’s attempted suicide.
Wracked by guilt and trauma, Sommy struggles to find a footing in her new life. Through complicated relationships, Sommy begins to find some stability only to have to confront old demons again back in Nigeria.
The Nga’phandileh Whisperer – Eugen Bacon (Stars and Sabers Publishing)
Expected Release Date: September, 2025
In The Nga’phandileh Whisperer, Eugen Bacon delves into the mystical Sauútiverse, where sound and music hold immense power. Chant’L, a young Guardian with a hidden talent for sound magic, embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
As she navigates a world where magic is woven into the very fabric of existence, Chant’L must learn to harness her inner strength and unlock the secrets of her own unique power. This novella explores self-discovery and the profound connection between sound, magic, and the human spirit.
Bloodmercy – Itiola Jones (American Poetry Review)
Expected Release Date: 9 September, 2025
Bloodmercy is a book about enduring questions to God and about the suffocating of love and familial bonds. The book explores the immutable bond of kinship and what it means to be bound to another person for all your days.
In this book, Jones, one of the most recognisable poets of her generation offers an introspective journey into the real meaning of humanity.
The Naming – Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto (University of Nebraska Press)
Expected Release Date: Fall, 2025.
Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto’s debut book of poetry conflates family history, Igbo ontology and the legends of origin and belonging in order to trace and name a lineage full of greatness and esoteric knowledge. Grandly conceived and thematically cohesive, this is poetry of great oral power.
BAKANDAMIYA – Saddiq Dzukogi (University of Nebraska Press)
Expected Release Date: Fall, 2025.
Dzukogi’s ambitiously impressive book-length epic poem is set in Northern Nigeria, spanning 500 years of cultural history. Dzukogi moves from passages of mythic to elegant lyricism in this work of beauty and urgency.
All I Know About a Heavy Heart Is How to Carry It – Chisom Okafor (Jacar Press)
Expected Release Date: Fall, 2025.
Okafor’s debut collection of poetry explores what it means to be human and vulnerable in absorbing poetry that raises questions about what it means to be part of the struggle for existence.
The Years of Blood – Adedayo Agarau (Fordham University Press)
Expected Release Date: Fall, 2025
Agarau’s book of poems have been described as “an achingly personal coming-of-age” poetry “drawing on Yoruba Cosmology”.
Contraband Bodies – Jide Salawu (NeWest Press)
Expected Release Date: Fall, 2025.
Salawu’s thought-provoking collection “is a personal record of migratory travail… a conscious elegy of displacement and home regained through the tribute of roads, evoking diasporic conditions in a new way by highlighting through pixelated imagery, syncopated language, and lapidary details the diverse circumstances of being a Black migrant in Africa, Europe, and America.”
Crossroad Mirror – Hussain Ahmed (Northwestern University Press)
Release Date: 2025
Hussain Ahmed’s third collection of poetry consolidates the poet’s place as one of the best of his generation.
Somewhere Between Black and African: A Biography of my Skin – Mukoma wa Ngugi
Release Date: 2025
Mukoma wa Ngugi’s memoir, slated for publication in 2025, promises to question hard truths about his life and well-known family.
Chimezie Chika’s short stories and essays have appeared in or forthcoming from, amongst other places, The Weganda Review, The Republic, Terrain.org, Isele Magazine, Lolwe, Fahmidan Journal, Efiko Magazine, Dappled Things, Channel Magazine and Afrocritik. He is the fiction editor of Ngiga Review. His interests range from culture, history, to art, literature, and the environment. You can find him on Twitter @chimeziechika1.
Frank Njugi is a Kenyan Writer, Culture journalist and Critic who has written on the East African and African culture scene for platforms such as Debunk Media, Republic Journal, Sinema Focus, Culture Africa, The Elephant, Wakilisha Africa, The Moveee, Africa in Dialogue, Afrocritik and others. He tweets as @franknjugi.