Refineries, a curse, and black gold. Workers, legends, petroleum. Nastaran Makaremi’s novel "Total" revolves around oil. And then becomes part of its next transformation.

Yang Shuang-zi’s award-winning novel 'Taiwan Travelogue' blends colonial history, desire and culinary art with as much emotion as intelligence – and every dish is allowed to tell a story of power

Abdellah Taïa's "Die Bastion der Tränen" is a poetic and painful novel about homosexuality, exile and the incurable wounds of origin, family and social confinement in a Morocco of memory

A billionaire, the blood of young women, bomb-making, Islamists online: Madeline Cash collects contemporary conspiracy theories. It’s funny, but why does 'Lost Lambs' remain silent when power is laid bare?

In "Edo's Souls", Stella Gaitano condenses family history, civil war and the female experience into a novel of poetic force and analytical clarity, impressive also in its language and structure

Between political amnesia and diaspora experience, Su Chang shows in her compelling debut novel "The Immortal Woman" how violence is perpetuated in bodies and biographies. Even where freedom is promised

Colonialism, the Anthropocene and the place of literature: A reading between text and context of Dorothee Elmiger's "Die Holländerinnen"

Iryn Tushabe's novel "Everything Is Fine Here" is a fascinating coming-of-age novel about queer self-empowerment, religious fanaticism and the political violence of everyday life in Uganda today

Scholastique Mukasonga's "Sister Deborah" is a fascinating literary genealogy about Christian mission, apocalyptic expectations and colonial order

Oyinkan Braithwaite's "Cursed Daughters" tells of curse, memory and self-empowerment - between Lagos, family ghosts and the question of whether origin is destiny or just narrative