world: malawi | From the Heart of Europe

See here for methodology. Books are disqualified if less than 50% of them is set in Malawi.

These numbers are crunched by hand, not by AI.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope	William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer	31,842	2,808
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (for younger readers)	William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer	11,205	1,722
The Lower River	Paul Theroux	2,957	375
Galimoto	Karen Lynn Williams	332	880
The Heaven Shop	Deborah Ellis	1,233	234
Laugh with the Moon	Shana Burg	1,148	170
Venture to the Interior	Laurens van der Post	296	331
Jungle Lovers	Paul Theroux	210	110

This week’s winner, and second place, go to the inventor William Kamkwamba whose memoir in its original form is far ahead of its own YA version, which in turn is way ahead of everything else. Apparently it is set reading in a number of American educational institutions, which must help the numbers.

Apart from Kamkwamba, whose story is co-written with an American journalist, there is no Malawian writer in the above list. The top Malawian writer that I found is the poet Upile Chisala, but I’m afraid I disqualified her top book, soft magic, because it seems to be more about the diaspora experience, though I may be incorrect. Her other books, nectar and a fire like you seem to have more Malawian content but were just pipped by Paul Theroux’s Jungle Lovers.

Speaking of which, I had forgotten that American author Paul Theroux has a personal connection with Malawi. One of his sons was in the same year as me at the same Cambridge college. We did not know each other at all well – I think the one time we particularly interacted was just after our graduation, when I found myself moving into a college room that he was hastily vacating.

I disqualified eleven books for being clearly less than 50% set in Malawi. I have noted soft magic above; the others are Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, by Alexandra Fuller; Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town, by Paul Theroux (again); The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After, by Clemantine Wamariya; Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, by Alexandra Fuller; Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley & Livingstone, by Martin Dugard; Long Way Down, by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman; In a Strange Room, by Damon Galgu; Thin Air: A Ghost Story, by Michelle Paver (which seems to be set entirely in the Himalayas); My Other Life, by Paul Theroux (yet again); and The Ukimwi Road: From Kenya to Zimbabwe, by Dervla Murphy.

Coming next: Zambia next door, then Chad, Kazakhstan and Chile.

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The best known books set in each country: Malawi