New-Generation African Poets

Chapbook Box Set Series

 

New Generation of African Poets:NNE

Akashic Books. 2017.

New-Generation
African Poets: NNE
Eight New-Generation African Poets: Tatu

Akashic Books. 2016.

New-Generation
African Poets: Tatu
Eight New-Generation African Poets

Akashic Books. 2015.

Eight New-Generation
African Poets: Mbili
Seven New-Generation African Poets. 2014

Slapering Hol Press. 2014

Seven New-Generation
African Poets: Mojo

 

New Generation of African Poets:-NNE

Akashic Books. 2017.

2017. New-Generation African Poets: NNE

with cover art by Ficre Ghebreyesus

The fourth in the series, NNE, produced in continuing collaboration with Akashic Books, is a stunning eleven-piece boxed set, featuring ten more individual chapbooks of new work from emerging African poets, each with a preface from another working poet. Again, Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani, provide an introduction. The cover art comes from award-winning Eritrean artist Ficre Ghebreyesus.

“There is a startling intelligence running through each of these collections, but beyond it all, I have left this process of working closely with manuscript after manuscript with a sense that the singular thing that connects these books is the way in which these poets root the emotional and intellectual explorations in the body—the body as an alien and dangerous entity that is negotiating its presence in a world that is sometimes hostile, sometimes welcoming, but always forcing the poet to resist erasure and invisibility –Kwame Dawes, in the introduction

 

The box set contains ten individual chapbooks:
New Generation African Poets, NNE: An Introduction in Two Movements by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani
Blood For The Blood God by Mary-Alice Daniel
Bone Light by Yasmin Belkhyr
The Book Of God by Ejiọfọr Ugwu
Everything here by Lena Bezawork Grönlund
Girl B by Victoria Adukwei Bulley
The Habitual Be by Chimwemwe Undi
i know how to fix myself by Ashley Makue
Sabbatical by Famia Nkansa
sugah. lump. prayer by Momtaza Mehri
Take Me Back by Chekwube O. Danladi

 

 Nne-The Chapbooks

<h3>Sabatical | Famia Nkansa</h3>
<h3> The Habitual Be | Chimwemwe Undi</h3>
<h3> The Book of God | EjiỌfỌr Ugwu</h3>
<h3> Take Me Back | Chekwube O. Danladi</h3>
<h3> sugah. lump. prayer | Momtaza Mehri </h3>
<h3> New-Generation African Poets (NNE): An Introduction in Two Movements | Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani</h3>
<h3> I Know How to Fix Myself | Ashley Makue</h3>
<h3> Girl B | Victoria Adukwei Bulley</h3>
<h3> Everything Here | Lena Bezawork Grönlund</h3>
<h3> Bone Light | Yasmin Belkhyr</h3>
<h3> Blood For the Blood God | Mary-Alice Daniel </h3>

2016. Eight New-Generation African Poets: Tatu

with cover art by Victor Ehikhamenor
The newest in the series, Tatu, produced in continuing collaboration with Akashic Books, is a stunning nine-piece boxed set, featuring eight more individual chapbooks of new work from emerging African poets, each with a preface from another working poet. Again, Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani, provide an introduction. The cover art comes from award-winning Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor. The new name, Tatu, establishes the naming convention for the series, based in the Swahili numbering system. "Above all, what we hope for is a poetics that is more African than it has ever been, but we are in the business of trusting the African poet to discover what this Africanness means. It may well emerge as something quite specific, something located with a particular tribe, ethnic group, neighborhood, or community, or it may grow out some visionary insight into the ways in which Africa as a continent is changing." --Kwame Dawes, in the introduction
 
 
The box set contains nine individual chapbooks: New Generation African Poets, Tatu: An Introduction in Two Movements by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani In Praise of Our Absent Father by D.M. Aderibigbe The Painter of Water by Gbenga Adesina The Color of James Brown's Scream by Kayombo Chingonyi Asmarani by Safia Elhillo Survival Kit by Chielozona Eze Paper Dolls by Lydia Nyachiro Kasese Dagoretti Corner by Ngwatilo Mawiyoo The Leaving by Hope Wabuke
 

Tatu-The Chapbooks

<h3>The Leaving | Hope Wabuke</h3>
<h3>Dagoretti Corner | Ngwatilo Mawiyoo</h3>
<h3>Paper Dolls | Lydia Nyachiro Kasese</h3>
<h3>Survival Kit | Chielozona Eze</h3>
<h3>Asmarani | Safia Elhillo</h3>
<h3>The Color of James Brown's Scream | Kayombo Chingonyi </h3>
<h3> The Painter of Water | Gbenga Adesina </h3>
<h3>In Praise of Our Absent Father | D.M. Aderibigbe</h3>

Akashic Books. 2015.

2015. Eight New-Generation African Poets: Mbili

with cover art by Imo Nse Imeh
The second in the series, Mbili, produced in collaboration with Akashic Books, is a vibrant and energizing nine-piece boxed set, featuring individual chapbooks containing new and original work from eight emerging African poets in addition to an introductory piece by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani, series editors. Each chapbook cover features vibrant work by painter Imo Imeh Nse.

"At once lament, at once protest, at once love song, at once incantation of hope and a clear future, at once entertaining, at once a new direction, and a link in a chain of human African achievement, an unending lineage of light." --Chris Abani, in the introduction

  • Eight New-Generation African Poets was included as part of The New Inquiry’s Summer Reading List.
  • Read a feature on Eight New-Generation African Poets at the Poetry Society of America.

    • Learn more about Eight New-Generation African Poets: Mbili.
    Order a copy ($29.95).

    The box set contains nine individual chapbooks:
    • Eight New-Generation African Poets: An Introduction in Two Movements by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani
    • Bearing Heavy Things by Liyou Libsekal
    • Bird from Africa by Viola Allo
    • Mitu's Spice Tour by Blessing Musariri
    • A Pagan Place by Peter Akinlabi
    • Things We Lost in the Fire by Vuyelwa Maluleke
    • Who Are You Looking For? by Amy M. Lukau
    • The Wire-Headed Heathen by Inua Ellams
    • Yellow Iris by Janet Kofi-Tsekpo

     

    Mbili -The Chapbooks

    Yellow Iris
    Mitu’s Spice Tour
    A Pagan Place
    Bird from Africa
    The Wire-Headed Heathen
    Who Are You Looking For?
    Things We Lost in the Fire
    2014. Seven New-Generation African Poets

    Slapering Hol Press. 2014.

    2014. Seven New-Generation African Poets: Mojo

    with cover art by Adejoke Tugbiyele
    The first in the series, Mojo, produced in collaboration with Slapering Hol Press and the Poetry Foundation, presents an elegant, light-weight eight-piece boxed set, featuring individual chapbooks containing new and original work from seven emerging African poets. Each chapbook cover features a unique piece of artist Adejoke Tugbiyele's fascinating work. An eighth book presents an introduction written by Kwame Dawes, APBF series editor, and Chris Abani, which succinctly contextualizes the chapbook project and these poets' roles within contemporary African literature while introducing the work within the set. "These volumes, which are original, are as diverse in thematic concerns, poetic styles, and musicality as the peoples of Africa and its diaspora. they are books of poetry that reveal a complex and sophisticated awareness of the world." --Kwame Dawes, in the introduction  

    Learn more about Seven New-Generation African Poets: Mojo. Order a copy ($29.95).

    The box set contains eight individual chapbooks: Seven New Generation African Poets: An Introduction in Two Movements by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani
    Mandible by TJ Dema
    The Cartographer of Water by Clifton Gachagua
    Carnaval by Tsitsi Jaji
    The Second Republic by Nick Makoha
    em>Ordinary Heaven by Ladan Osman
    Our Men Do Not Belong To Us by Warsan Shire
    em>Otherwise Everything Goes On by Len Verwey

    Mojo- The Chapbooks

    2014 Seven New-Generation African Poets. An Introduction in Two Movements
    Otherwise Everything Goes On
    Our Men Do Not Belong to Us
    An Ordinary Heaven
    The Second Republic
    The Cartographer of Water
    Mandible
    Carnaval