Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) has dozens of documented screen adaptations across cinema and television. Deon Meyer, a South African crime novelist writing in Afrikaans, has multiple completed film and television adaptations, exceeding the number of confirmed screen adaptations of several widely studied African literary figures. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (Kenya), one of the most widely discussed African authors, has zero. Abdulrazak Gurnah (Tanzania) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021; not a single one of his novels has been filmed. Nuruddin Farah (Somali) has been writing for over fifty years, his work translated into more than twenty languages. Zero adaptations.
These are only a ridiculously small set — books by African authors sitting on the desk across from me as I write this, initially prompted by the announcement of NEON's February 6, 2026, worldwide-rights acquisition of "Clarissa," directed by Nigerian twin filmmakers Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri, and conversations it inspired. With production financing from Afreximbank's CANEX Creations Inc. and MBO Capital (Nigeria), alongside NEON's U.S. release plan and NEON International handling foreign sales, the "Clarissa" package led me to pull the thread in the other direction, toward the broader, documented history of novels by African authors moving into cinema and long-form television.
The reporting and examples below draw from African Film Press's African Screen Intelligence (ASI) dataset, which compiled verifiable adaptation credits across major language spheres used on the continent and in African publishing and translation markets. It does not claim to catalogue every African literary adaptation ever made. It documents what is legible across accessible records — films and television projects traceable through trade reporting, festival archives, national film bodies, distributor listings, and multilingual sources, including English, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Amharic, Afrikaans, Swahili, and others.
The dataset reflects what can be verified, not what may exist locally without durable documentation. The number of African novels adapted for the screen across the 20th and 21st centuries is almost certainly higher than what appears here. This is a mapped record, not a final count.
The adaptation of African literature into film and television has been a feature of the continent's screen ecosystems since the independence era, from Ousmane Sembène filming his own novellas in Dakar in the 1960s to the Egyptian studio system turning Mahfouz into a one-man franchise across four decades. But the context has since dramatically shifted.
Skip ahead to the late 2010s and early 2020s, when global streaming platforms increased spending on original African screen production; Netflix reports approximately USD 225 million invested across South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya between 2016 and 2024, and a more formalized pipeline from book to screen continues to take shape. Project-based literary adaptation deals commissioned by Netflix from producers, including Ochre Moving Pictures, following announcements at MIP Africa in September 2023, alongside Showmax's adaptations of locally bestselling novels, and new owner Canal+/StudioCanal's export strategy, indicate a growing institutional interest in African literary IP — even as progress is incremental.
A Broad Chronicle
Any honest accounting of African literary adaptation must begin with Egypt, which is often excluded from African screen discourse. The Cairo studio system has been converting novels into films since the 1940s. Mahfouz alone accounts for several decades of repeated screen adaptation across cinema and television. Ihsan Abdel Quddous had a few dozen; his novels inspired nearly 50 classic Egyptian films. Yusuf Idris has seen multiple works adapted for the screen. In the contemporary generation, Ahmed Mourad's collaboration with "Egypt's box office king" Marwan Hamed produced six screen projects, including "The Blue Elephant 2" (2019), which ranked among Egypt's highest-grossing domestic releases according to Egyptian box-office reporting. Ahmed Khaled Tawfik's "Paranormal" became Netflix's first original Egyptian series in 2020.
South Africa's infrastructure and the MultiChoice television ecosystem (now owned by Canal+) include kykNET-backed Afrikaans-language pipeline that produces a steady stream of films practically invisible to international markets. Dalene Matthee's "Fiela se Kind" has been filmed twice (1988, 2019). Athol Fugard's plays produced six screen versions, including "Tsotsi" (2005) — the only African literary adaptation to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Lauren Beukes's "The Shining Girls" became an Apple TV+ series starring Elisabeth Moss. And Deon Meyer, writing Afrikaans crime thrillers, has, by all accounts, become the most prolific adapted African author alive today: his "Heart of the Hunter" (Netflix, 2024) entered Netflix's global Top 10 rankings — landing at #1 for a stint — following its release.
Nigeria's adaptations of prose fiction for film and television are most concentrated after 2013, which obviously excludes the country's much older tradition of adapting stage plays for the screen, including works by Wole Soyinka and Hubert Ogunde. The global landmark was probably the late Biyi Bandele's adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Half of a Yellow Sun" (2013), which demonstrated that African literary IP could attract international talent and relatively substantial financing. Then came Uzodinma Iweala's "Beasts of No Nation" (Cary Joji Fukunaga, 2015), and a streaming platform wave: Kunle Afolayan's "Swallow" (2021) from Sefi Atta's novel, Mo Abudu's "Elesin Oba: The King's Horseman" (2022) from Soyinka's play, and Arese Ugwu's "The Smart Money Woman" (2020).
In Francophone Africa, the adaptation record includes multiple direct prose-to-screen conversions. Ahmadou Kourouma (Côte d'Ivoire)'s 2000 novel "Allah n'est pas obligé" was adapted into an animated feature directed by Zaven Najjar, which premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2025. Gaël Faye (Rwanda/Burundi)'s 2016 novel "Petit Pays" became a 2020 feature directed by Éric Barbier. Scholastique Mukasonga (Rwanda)'s "Notre-Dame du Nil" was adapted by Atiq Rahimi as "Our Lady of the Nile" (2019). Mariama Bâ (Senegal)'s "Une si longue lettre" has been adapted into a feature directed by Angèle Diabang (Senegal), announced for 2025. Camara Laye (Guinea)'s autobiographical "L'Enfant noir" (1953) was adapted into a 1995 film directed by Laurent Chevallier. Yasmina Khadra (Algeria)'s novels generated multiple adaptations, including "L'Attentat" (2012), "Ce que le jour doit à la nuit" (2012), and the animated film "Les Hirondelles de Kaboul" (2019).
In Lusophone Africa, documented adaptations include Mia Couto's "Terra Sonâmbula" (Mozambique), filmed in 2007 by Teresa Prata, and "O Último Voo do Flamingo," adapted in 2010 by João Ribeiro. José Eduardo Agualusa (Angola) saw his "O Vendedor de Passados" become the 2015 Brazilian film "The Book of Chameleons." Germano Almeida (Cape Verde)'s "O Testamento do Sr. Napumoceno da Silva Araújo" was adapted into the 1997 feature "Napomuceno's Will," directed by Francisco Manso. Luis Bernardo Honwana (Mozambique)'s short story "Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso" has inspired short film adaptations.
The list isn't meant to be exhaustive; it's giving scope and context, without getting too lost in dates and titles.
The 2020s Streaming Pipeline
What has arguably changed in the last few years is the attempt to industrialize literary adaptation.
Project-based literary adaptation deals commissioned by Netflix from producers, included Johannesburg-based Ochre Moving Pictures, which signed a multi-title book adaptation agreement with the streamer in 2023. Separately, Ochre's African Book Club initiative, developed with director Akin Omotoso, included an adaptation of Justice Malala's 2023 book "The Plot to Save South Africa," with Omotoso attached to direct, and optioned titles like Nigerian author Jane Igharo's "Where We End and Begin."
In late 2024, Netflix pulled back on commissioning African originals, and the Ochre pipeline's near-term prospects are unclear.
The Afolayan-directed "Aníkúlápó" franchise is worth mentioning here, even though it is not a prose adaptation. It mines Yoruba oral literature and the Ifá corpus — folklore treated as a shared "text" — and the original 2022 film topped Netflix's weekly global chart for non-English films following its release. A six-part sequel series, "Rise of the Spectre," premiered on the platform in March 2024, with a second season set for early 2026. It is the closest thing Netflix has to a working model for African literary IP at scale, even though it doesn't formally sit within the book-to-screen pipeline entirely.
Showmax, now re-platformed under Canal+ ownership following the MultiChoice acquisition completed in September 2025, has operated a literary adaptation strategy built around locally (South African) bestselling novels. Among them, Dudu Busani-Dube (South Africa) self-published "Hlomu" series was adapted into the telenovela "The Wife," which premiered on November 11, 2021, on Showmax. The series ran for three seasons between November 11, 2021, and November 13, 2023, totaling 136 episodes. The books follow the eight Zulu brothers of a crime family and the women who marry them.
Showmax has also adapted South Africa's crime fiction with consistency. Angela Makholwa (South Africa) "Red Ink" was adapted into a series that premiered on February 12, 2024. Deon Meyer's "Devil's Peak" premiered on Showmax on October 29, 2023. Sally Andrew's "Recipes for Love and Murder" premiered on M-Net on March 20, 2022, and later streamed on Showmax.
Canal+'s acquisition of MultiChoice gave it control of both Showmax and the continent's largest pay-TV ecosystem, and its "StudioCanal Stories" label is treating African content as global export IP. An early flagship project is "The Heist of Benin," announced in December 2025: directed by Ava DuVernay, starring David Oyelowo, a heist thriller set in modern London that draws on the 1897 Benin Expedition and the theft of the Benin Bronzes. No, it's not a direct literary adaptation, but the historical record it draws from is its source text. By attaching A-list Hollywood talent to an African historical narrative, StudioCanal could be trying to create an African theatrical blockbuster model that does not require the qualifiers usually attached to African cinema in European markets. And that could hinge on existing IP, including literary works.
The Big Bets
A handful of projects, spread across different production models, represent the largest current wagers on African literary IP.
The single most expensive is almost certainly "Children of Blood and Bone." Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to Tomi Adeyemi's YA fantasy novel in a competitive bidding war in 2022, after the project spent years in various stages of limbo at Fox 2000 and then Lucasfilm. Gina Prince-Bythewood directs. The cast: Thuso Mbedu, Amandla Stenberg, Damson Idris, Tosin Cole, Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lashana Lynch, Regina King. Additional cast, including Richard Mofe-Damijo and the Nigerian singer Ayra Starr, were added after an open casting call in Nigeria. Production wrapped in South Africa in mid-2025. The film is dated for theatrical IMAX release on January 15, 2027. It is the closest analogue to "Black Panther" in the literary adaptation space — a major-studio test of global appetite for high-fantasy rooted in West African mythology (the Orïsha pantheon). Whether it performs will shape what comes next.
In Nigeria, the current biggest domestic literary adaptation bet is "The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives." Lola Shoneyin's 2010 novel — which explores polygamy, power, and the elaborate architecture of family lies — was first announced as a Netflix series in 2020 under Mo Abudu's EbonyLife. That plan collapsed. EbonyLife has now partnered with Genesis Group, Nile Media Entertainment, and Silverbird Group to produce a feature film, directed by Daniel Oriahi from a screenplay by Adze Ugah. Shoneyin is a producer. The cast, led by Odunlade Adekola, includes Iyabo Ojo, Mercy Aigbe, and Bimbo Ademoye. It is targeting a December 2026 theatrical release across Nigeria and international territories, including the UK. The four-company partnership is positioned as one of the widest Nigerian cinema rollouts to date. Whether that proves to be the case depends on December — a month that superstar Funke Akindele has owned in recent years.
Meanwhile, A24 announced in September 2024 that it's developing a television series adaptation of Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart," with Idris Elba attached to star as Okonkwo and executive produce with his 22Summers banner. David Oyelowo's Yoruba Saxon is also executive producing, alongside Achebe Masterworks. As of February 2026, no writer is attached, no network or streamer has been named, and the project has not moved beyond its initial announcement. It's, for now, a press release. But the casting has already provoked sharp public debate. Elba is a British actor of Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian descent; Okonkwo is Igbo. The argument about whether this casting constitutes a failure of cultural specificity, or whether it is simply what is required to finance a project of this scale, has played out across Nigerian media and diaspora commentary with real heat. It will not be resolved by the time the series, if it ever materializes, reaches a screen.
Of note, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah" is a most conspicuous case of "whatever happened to...?" A long-planned HBO Max miniseries (at one time, it was a film), with Lupita Nyong'o and Danai Gurira attached, was scrapped in 2020 when, we were told, COVID-19 created scheduling conflicts that could not be resolved. The rights were reportedly available for re-optioning. Most recently, Canal+ added the project to its international-facing Africa slate, but details are currently under wraps. The novel — which tracks the experiences of a Nigerian woman navigating race in America and return migration to Lagos — would seem to be an obvious candidate for adaptation in the current market and even geopolitical climate. It has not happened.
Additionally, Nnedi Okorafor's "Who Fears Death" has been in development at HBO with George R.R. Martin attached as executive producer since around 2017. It's still listed as active in development. The complexity of the post-apocalyptic African setting and the requisite extensive world-building have apparently slowed progress. No production timeline has been publicly confirmed. In January 2021, it was announced that Tessa Thompson's newly formed production company, Viva Maude, had joined the team.
Who Gets Adapted
The data shows that authors who get adapted tend to share certain characteristics — certainly at the most visible layer: proximity to existing production infrastructure, a pre-existing relationship with a producer or production company, genre compatibility with what platforms are buying (crime, romance, domestic drama, or high-fantasy), and, in the case of diaspora-driven productions, the kind of international profile that can attract above-the-line Hollywood or European talent. Soyinka gets adapted largely because he is Soyinka; Adichie's "Half of a Yellow Sun" got adapted because it could attract known international talent and global financing as a result. Deon Meyer gets adapted because of genre compatibility, and South Africa's production infrastructure makes it easy.
Meanwhile, African novelists with international publication are typically represented by literary agencies headquartered in the U.S. or across Europe. The Wylie Agency represents Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, NoViolet Bulawayo, Teju Cole, Taiye Selasi, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, and the Chinua Achebe estate. Nuruddin Farah is represented by Nicole Aragi's Aragi Inc. Creative Artists Agency packaged the Paramount adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi's "Children of Blood and Bone." William Morris Endeavor represents Yaa Gyasi.
African literary agencies remain comparatively small. For example, the Lennon-Ritchie Agency in Cape Town publicly describes film and television rights as a growing area of specialization.
Authors who write in languages other than English or French, whose work does not easily map onto established screen genres, resisting the "high concept" pitch, or who live in countries without developed production infrastructure — they wait for a lightning-strike deal from the West. The international streaming platforms, once viewed as the great levelers, are not fixing this structural gap.
It's Canal+'s market now. A move the company could make in this specific context is to create a "third lane" for African adaptations, targeting mid-budget, exportable TV series that sit between low-budget local soaps and international-facing blockbusters. They could focus on crime/thriller novels that travel easily, historical epics that justify higher budgets, and bulk optioning of rights across languages to feed a growing local subscriber base.
Ultimately, the African literary archive far exceeds what reaches the screen. The potential is entirely untapped. Novels by African authors may travel widely, but adaptations are limited by money, timing, genre, rights, and audience. Some early twentieth-century works entering the public domain could open new possibilities, but rules differ by country — a subject that requires a separate examination grounded in jurisdiction-specific copyright law.
Subsequently, the books on my desk will likely have to wait a little longer.
This report was originally published to Akoroko Premium subscribers in February 2026.