In Think Africa:
From corrupt detectives to questions of morality, the appetite for crime fiction is only growing across Africa – but these page-turners can do more than just entertain.
The tradition of popular and genre fiction is well-developed in Africa: from Onitsha Market Literature in Nigeria, the Pacesetters series across West Africa and the Hausa Soyayya romances thriving today in Kano, Nigeria. South African crime fiction has been on the rise for several years, and this trend has now spread to Nigeria with the launch of two crime fiction imprints: Cassava Crime, from Cassava Republic Press and Cordite, from Parrésia Publishers. African publishers are diversifying by tapping into readers’ desires to be entertained by books which are both accessible and engaged with the vibrancy and challenges of life in contemporary African cities like Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg.