Main content

African Books to Inspire

British rapper-poet Akala, Kenyan poet and Abdilatif Abdalla, Nigerian novelist Sarah Ladipo Manyika, and South African poet Yewande Omotoso, on the books which have inspired them

A panel of writers talk to Audrey Brown about the African books which have had the biggest impact on them, their writing and the wider world. What makes a great book? Which African books deserve a wider audience? What is the power of reading to influence both the personal and the political?

On the panel are black British rapper-poet Akala; Abdilatif Abdalla, the Kenyan poet and activist; Nigerian novelist Sarah Ladipo Manyika; and Yewande Omotoso, South African poet and academic.

(Photo: Clockwise from top left - Akala, Yewande Omotoso, Abdilatif Abdalla and Sarah Ladipo Manyika. All images courtesy of the Royal African Society)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Mon 7 Nov 201607:32GMT
BBC World Service East Asia

More episodes

Previous

Oklahoma City After the Bomb

Next

Change in America

See all episodes from The Documentary

Broadcasts

  • Wed 2 Nov 201600:32GMT
    BBC World Service except News Internet
  • Wed 2 Nov 201603:32GMT
    BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean
  • Wed 2 Nov 201605:32GMT
    BBC World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, South Asia & Europe and the Middle East only
  • Wed 2 Nov 201606:32GMT
    BBC World Service East Asia
  • Wed 2 Nov 201607:32GMT
    BBC World Service Australasia
  • Wed 2 Nov 201609:32GMT
    BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean
  • Wed 2 Nov 201613:32GMT
    BBC World Service except Americas and the Caribbean & News Internet
  • Wed 2 Nov 201619:32GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
  • Wed 2 Nov 201621:32GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Sun 6 Nov 201619:32GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa
  • Mon 7 Nov 201607:32GMT
    BBC World Service East Asia