Bessie Head
Bessie Head: A writer searching for connections
Bessie Head was a prolific letter writer, and was in regular correspondence with figures such as Langston Hughes, Robert Sobukwe and Alice Walker. She is also known to have written to Toni Morrison, Nadine Gordimer, Nikki Giovanni, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
Mohale Mashigo lists five books she recommends for every South African library
Mohale Mashigo, author of The Yearning, recommends: Zakes Mda – Ways of Dying, Koleka Putuma – Collective Amnesia, Bessie Head – Maru, Alex Eliseev – Cold Case Confession and Tsitsi Dangarembga – Nervous Conditions.
Bookshy features 22 short story collections by African women writers
Bookshy has curated a list of short story collections by African women writers, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Helen Oyeyemi, Sofia Samatar, Bessie Head, Petina Gappah and Lauren Beukes.