Best Books by Nigerian Authors You Need to Read This Year

Last year, I realized that there was a dearth of Nigerian literature in my personal collection and I decided to rectify this. I started reading more works by Nigerian authors and fell more in love. I read some new works like My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite and some classics like Jagua Nana by Cyprian Ekwensi. These books whetted my appetite and now I can’t stop.

Best Nigerian Books To Read This Year

Many people might need to know some of the more entertaining titles to look forward to this year. The good news is that there are so many Nigerian books being released this year. If you are a book addict like me who is looking to expand your collection, here are the best 2022 books by Nigerian authors to read. This list is not in order of importance. Note, that these are affiliate links.

Wahala by Nikki May

A funny story about three women and their wahala, or “trouble”—their boyfriends, their professional aspirations, and their weaves. A sharp, modern take on friendship, ambition, culture, and betrayal, Wahala (trouble) is an unforgettable novel from a brilliant new voice.

Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Meet Yinka: a thirty-something, Oxford-educated, British Nigerian woman with a well-paid job, good friends, and a mother whose constant refrain is “Yinka, where is your huzband?”.  Yinka’s Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she’s too traditional (she’s saving herself for marriage!), her girlfriends think she needs to get over her ex already, and the men in her life…well, that’s a whole other story.  But Yinka herself has always believed that true love will find her when the time is right.

Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? is a fresh, uplifting story of an unconventional heroine who bravely asks the questions we all have about love. Wry, moving, irresistible, this is a love story that makes you smile but also makes you think–and explores what it means to find your way between two cultures, both of which are yours.

Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold by Umar Turaki

A mysterious plague known as the Grey grips the small village of Pilam, which the world has quarantined without pity. Laying waste to Pilam’s residents, the sickness saps its victims of strength, drains the colour from their eyes, and kills all promise.

Only the young are immune. But beyond the barricades and walls of soldiers―the manifestation of a nation’s terror―there are rumours of a cure. Dunka, the eldest son of a family reeling from the Grey, takes on the daunting task of leaving Pilam to find that cure for his siblings and save them before it’s too late.

Dele Weds Destiny by Tomi Obaro

Funmi, Enitan, and Zainab first meet at university in Nigeria and become friends for life despite their differences. Three formerly tight-knit college friends reunite in Lagos for an important wedding. In the intervening years, there have been ruptures, distances, and other significant changes, and the days before the wedding build to a crisis.

Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde

Vagabonds! takes place in Lagos, among people and spirits whose existence is outlawed. As in Nigeria, vagabonds are those whose existence is literally outlawed: the queer, the poor, the displaced, the footloose and rogue spirits. They are those who inhabit transient spaces, who make their paths and move invisibly, who embrace apparitions, old vengeances and alternative realities.

Eloghosa Osunde’s brave, fiercely inventive novel traces a wild array of characters for whom life itself is a form of resistance: a driver for a debauched politician with the power to command life and death; a legendary fashion designer who gives birth to a grown daughter; a lesbian couple whose tender relationship sheds unexpected light on their experience with underground sex work; a wife and mother who attends a secret spiritual gathering that shifts her world.

Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi

After a childhood in foster care, Bitter is thrilled to have been chosen to attend Eucalyptus, a special school where she can focus on her painting surrounded by other creative teens. But outside this haven, the streets are filled with protests against the deep injustices that grip the city of Lucille.

Bitter’s instinct is to stay safe within the walls of Eucalyptus . . . but her friends aren’t willing to settle for a  world that’s so far away from what they deserve. She’s pulled between old friendships, her artistic passion, and a new romance. This timely and riveting novel—a companion to the National Book Award finalist Pet—explores the power of youth, protest, and art.

Twice as Perfect by Louisa Onome

A story about a Nigerian-Canadian girl dealing with an estranged older brother, helping her cousin plan a big Nigerian wedding, and pressure from her parents about her future. Because ever since her older brother, Sam, had a fight with their parents a few years ago and disappeared, somebody had to fill the void he left behind.

For seventeen-year-old Adanna Nkwachi, life is all about duty: to school and the debate team, to her Nigerian parents, and even to her cousin Genny as Adanna helps prepare Genny’s wedding to Afrobeats superstar Skeleboy.

What Happened to Janet Uzor by Miracle Emeka-Nkwor

A year after their best friend, Janet Uzor dies in a drowning incident, Pamela and Ebere are trying to cope and move on in their own unique ways. Pamela buries her emotions, while Ebere has been on a mission to find out what really happened to their friend, an excellent swimmer, whose death seems unfair and unconscionable.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again. It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene.

Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career.

These are the best 2022 Nigerian books to read. You will love them so much and they are sure to keep you intrigued from start to finish. If you loved reading this article, you will enjoy these book posts;

• 20 Books Released This Year That Are Perfect Beach Reads
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• Amazing Girl Boss Books That Will Inspire Every Woman
• Best Underrated Thriller Books Filled With Suspense

Which of these beach reads are you going to read this summer? Let us know in the comments below.

Ndewoo!