Pagineborn 1959 · Mutoko, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) · also known as Dangarembga
Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions (1988) — the story of Tambudzai, a girl in 1960s Rhodesia fighting for an education — was the first novel published in English by a Black Zimbabwean woman, and was named one of Africa’s twelve best books of the 20th century. She continued Tambu’s story in The Book of Not and This Mournable Body, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020. She is also a filmmaker.
Begin with Nervous Conditions.
Part of our African Literature reading list — print it, email it to yourself or share it.
Olaudah Equiano · Sol Plaatje · Chinua Achebe · Wole Soyinka · Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o · Naguib Mahfouz · Mariama Bâ · Nadine Gordimer · J. M. Coetzee · Bessie Head · Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions (1988) — the story of Tambudzai, a girl in 1960s Rhodesia fighting for an education — was the first novel published in English by a Black Zimbabwean woman, and was named one of Africa’s twelve best books of the 20th century. She continued Tambu’s story in The Book of Not and This Mournable Body, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020.
Nervous Conditions is usually considered Tsitsi Dangarembga’s best-known work, followed by The Book of Not, This Mournable Body.
Most readers start with Nervous Conditions.
Both refer to the same writer.
Tsitsi Dangarembga’s books are still under copyright, so they are not free to download, but many can be borrowed free from your public library or Open Library — we link to them below.