Literature of Africa

Africa is, of course, a huge continent of many countries and cultures, and one thread to cover all of it may be inadequate. It is a starting point.
Here is a place to recommend and discuss the literature of the continent. I'd like us to avoid just listing titles as happens so often here on LT, so please tell us a little about the book (perhaps setting or basic plot) and perhaps the viewpoint or something about the author. I think this might encourage a bit more conversation.
Recently, someone asked me if I knew any Moroccan authors and these are the two I mentioned to him.
Tahar Ben Jelloun is Moroccan but now lives in France. His novel This Blinding Absence of Light won the Dublin/Impac Award a few years ago. It's the story of the imprisonment of a group of soldiers (unwitting participants in an assassination attempt of the king) in a remote underground, desert prison. It is a horribly bleak story of survival which I found strangely compelling. I also have a copy of his Racism Explained to My Daughter.
Laila Lalami is also Moroccan, now living in the US. Her novel, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits is about what makes people risk their lives to pursue a better life. While her novel is the story of a group of North Africans crowded into a small boat headed for Spain and, hopefully, a better life, she chooses to focus on four or five people specifically. This is a short book, a first novel that I was very impressed with.