Three books by writers from Cabo Verde, set there, that give a real sense of the place, starting with The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo and Chiquinho.
Modern Cabo Verdean literature is often dated from Claridade, a literary review launched in 1936 that turned writers towards island life. Baltasar Lopes, one of its founders, wrote Chiquinho, a novel of a boy growing up on São Nicolau amid drought, hunger and emigration. Writers have mostly published in Portuguese, while Creole is the everyday language and shapes dialogue and song, including the morna, a slow, melancholy song form. Independence from Portugal came in 1975.
Germano Almeida's The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo is a comic novel of merchants and gossip in Mindelo, on São Vicente. Dina Salústio's The Madwoman of Serrano is a short novel of women's lives and social pressures in island communities. For history, Basil Davidson's The Fortunate Isles traces Creole society from Portuguese settlement to the independence struggle.
“Find a copy” goes to Bookshop.org. If you buy, we earn a small commission and independent bookshops get a share too.
A comic novel of merchant life in Mindelo, São Vicente, showing the island's trading class, local gossip and Creole wit.
A classic Claridade-movement novel following a boy's growing up on São Nicolau, with drought, hunger, emigration and island identity at its core.
A short novel of Cabo Verdean women's lives and social pressures, rooted in island community and everyday Creole society.
Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo Côte d'Ivoire Djibouti DR Congo Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe