British-Sudanese author writes African history book aimed at children

By Rédaction Africanews with AFP

The adult edition of British-Sudanese journalist, Zeinab Badawi’s book “An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence” has sold more the 110,000 copies since it was published in 2024.

Now, the well-known broadcaster who was born in Sudan and brought up in England, is working on a new version aimed at children.

It will trace the broad sweep of African history from the rise of powerful kingdoms, great trading centres, and influential leaders, to charting Africa’s path to independence.

“I make no apologies for the fact that I focused on great moments in Africa’s history, not just on the tragic,” she said.

“I also wanted to celebrate the fact that African Africa has individuals, institutions, customs, traditions which are worthy of respect, worthy of study, and worthy of knowledge.”

“You have to engage the young reader through vivid illustrations and I have a wonderful illustrator who I think captures the essence of the characters I have focused on in the children’s book,” she said.

“History is best understood if it is seared into the imagination and that is especially true for young readers,” she added.

Entitled “Africa: History and Heroes”, it will combine simple text with illustrations aimed at making “Africa’s history come alive” for younger readers.

Badawi said she believed children should be introduced to African history at an early age to help them understand that it was “part of our global story”.

The original book started as a BBC series and has seen her travel to about 30 African countries meeting with historians, anthropologists, and specialists in African culture.

“They bring something very different to the table. They bring great scholarship. They have PhDs from Harvard, Oxford, the Sorbonne,” she said.

But she said they bring “more than just that” because they grew in Africa and are steeped in the oral tradition of their countries.

“They are aware of the songs, the dance, the culture. They speak the vernacular languages. And so if you don’t include them in the telling of the history, you will miss something.”

Badawi, who is currently president of SOAS University of London, said she wanted her book “to dispel the myth that Africa had no history”.

The continent’s story, she said, had previously been largely seen through the European lens and even some in Africa know little about its history.

“So I really wanted to tackle this ignorance, which, frankly, even I had in many ways,” she said.

A French translation of Badawi’s original book is being published on Friday in France which she hopes will reach new readers in francophone Africa.

France and Britain were the major colonial powers on the continent and so she felt there was a “gaping hole that there was no French translation of the book”.