Four books that put you in South Sudan. Three are by writers from South Sudan and set there, starting with War Child: A Child Soldier's Story and God Grew Tired of Us. The other is a wider pick, by someone who knows the place well.
Some of the best-known writing from South Sudan comes from the Lost Boys, children who fled the second civil war on foot. The country became independent in 2011 and English is its official language, but many of its writers have worked in exile. Early accounts of Dinka and Nuer life were often written by outsiders, such as E. E. Evans-Pritchard, whose The Nuer describes cattle herding, kinship and politics in the flood plains of the Upper Nile region.
John Bul Dau's God Grew Tired of Us recalls a Dinka childhood in Duk County and the journey to the refugee camp at Kakuma. Emmanuel Jal's War Child: A Child Soldier's Story describes growing up in the south during the second civil war. Francis Mading Deng, a Dinka statesman, wrote the political novel Seed of Redemption, set in Sudan and showing tensions between north and south.
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A former child soldier describes growing up in the south during the second civil war, including the SPLA and the violence around Nuer and Dinka communities.
A memoir of Dinka childhood in Duk County, the wartime flight of the Lost Boys and the refugee camp at Kakuma.
A political novel by a Dinka statesman, set in Sudan and showing the tensions between north and south and the pull of Dinka tradition.
By long-time residents and outsiders who know the place well, or folk tales, poetry and history with a strong feel for South Sudan.
A novelized life of Valentino Achak Deng, tracing Dinka village life, the war years, and the march through Ethiopia to Kakuma.
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