These stories from the oldest continent and home to the world’s youngest population range from the fantastical to ruminations of youth during conflict, the unknowability of death as seen through adult eyes, to the perennial questions around family, friendship and sexual awakening.

Despite the diverse themes, the stories in this historic first anthology of African young adult fiction speak with voices that anyone who is or has been a teenager will be familiar with: voices that are at times assertive, sometimes uncertain, but always aware of a world around them.