Remembering the awesome pacesetters series

Remember the Pacesetters Series? I did not grow up reading them, i just discovered them recently and i must say that they are beautiful.

For those who do not know, the Pacesetters were a collection of 130 novels written by African authors (mostly Nigerian, but there were also Ghanian, Kenyan and South African writers) for an African audience.

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Popularly known as the low-cost paperback series, they were published between 1979 and 1988 by Macmillan. They were so popular in the 1980s until the series disappeared in the 1990s as a result of structural adjustment programmes.

The structural adjustment programmes affected many industries in Nigeria, including the publishing industry, and I guess the Pacesetter series were one of those to be affected.

You can't help but admire the covers,  they are so beautiful, and so 1980s with their African pop art, but there's just something about them and how the colourful images portray what the novel is probably about. They are a testament to their time.

It turns out the Pacesetters novels are actually still available - there's a bookshop, Amab Bookshop that sells them and it has about 100 of the books.

Related: 10 Best African classics you should read before you turn 30

Whether you grew up reading it and are feeling nostalgic, or are like me, who was't fortunate enough to grow up with (or read) them, the books are worth checking out.