Read Africa_ Page under construction

Read Africa is an outreach initiative of the University of Wisconsin-Madison African Studies Program that donates African literature to public libraries in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. This program is supported by the U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Centers for Africa in partnership with Brittle Paper, the Children’s Africana Book Award (CABA), and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

This year, all fifteen public library systems in Wisconsin will receive two copies of ten notable titles each. This includes five novels and 5 picture books:

Novels

A Mouth Full of Salt by Reem Gaafar (Sudan)
Bald Dandelions with their Wishes Blown Clean off by Mona Liban, Aisha Ali Haji, Hamdi Ali (Rwanda, Kenya, Somaliland, Somalia, and Ethiopia)
How to Make a Space Masquerade by Mazi Nwonwu (Nigeria)
Love Marry Kill by Zukiswa Warner (South Africa)
The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus by Umar Abubakar Sidi (Nigeria)

Picture books

Bottle Tops: The Art of El Anatsui by Alison Goldberg
Egyptian Lullaby by Zeena Pliska and Halem Aly
Flipflopi by Linda Ravin Lodding, Dipesh Pabari, and Michael Machira Mwangi
The Big Eyes of the Tiny Girl by Ondjaki and Carla Dias (translated by Marissa Moorman)
The Taste of Home by Aminata Jalloh and Pervin Özcan

These books were selected from the 2024 Brittle Paper 100 Notable African Books list from the 2024 Children’s African Book Award winners