Our Spring Recommendation, Refractive Africa by Will Alexander, published by Granta is a set of three poems ruminating on diasporic witness, colonialism, invasion, and political resistance. This "pas de trois" of poems begins paying homage to Amos Tutuola, innovative Nigerian-Yoruban author, and ends with a speech towards modernist Malagasy poet Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo.
The collection turns around the long middle poem, using the geographical site of the Congo river as a lens for considering the pillaging and dislocation of societies through history, honing-in on the specific colonial and post-colonial histories of the area. He welds these to contemporary instances of ecological damage through mining for tin and cobalt. Fierce, compelling, and full of astrological reckoning, this book is a "savage enunciation".
Order here with 25% off for members or join as Complete Member by 15th February for your copy in the Spring mailing.