{"title":"Chris Abani","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"sanctificum-book-chris-abani-9781556593161","title":"Sanctificum","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Abani . . . explores place and humor, exile and freedom with poems of experience and imagination . . . [he] enters the wound with a boldness that avoids nothing. Highly recommended.\" --\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Stunning poems.\" --\u003ci\u003eNew Humanist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA self-described \"zealot of optimism,\" poet and novelist Chris Abani bravely travels into the charged intersections of atrocity and love, politics and religion, loss and renewal. In poems of devastating beauty, he investigates complex personal history, family, and romantic love.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSanctificum\u003c\/i\u003e, Abani's fifth collection of poetry, is his most personal and ambitious book. Utilizing religious ritual, the Nigerian Igbo language, and reggae rhythms, Abani creates a post-racial, liturgical love song that covers the globe from Abuja to Los Angeles.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eI say hibiscus and mean innocence.\u003cbr\u003e I say guava and mean childhood.\u003cbr\u003e I say mosquito netting and mean loss.\u003cbr\u003e I say father and it means only that.\u003cbr\u003e Happen that we all dream, but the sea is only sea.\u003cbr\u003e Happen that we call upon God but it is only a breeze\u003cbr\u003e ruffling a prayer book in a small church\u003cbr\u003e where benches groan in the heat . . .\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChris Abani\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Nigeria in 1966 and published his first novel at sixteen. He was imprisoned for his writings, and after his release he eventually moved to the United States. He is the author of ten books of poetry and fiction, including the best-selling novel \u003ci\u003eGraceLand\u003c\/i\u003e. He teaches at the University of California-Riverside and lives in Los Angeles.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49528285921553,"sku":"GOR013142793","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50467651682577,"sku":"CIN1556593163G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51037195567377,"sku":"NIN9781556593161","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52435761365265,"sku":"NLS9781556593161","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1556593163.jpg?v=1750718172"},{"product_id":"face-cartography-of-the-void-book-chris-abani-9781632060433","title":"The Face: Cartography Of The Void","description":"\"A fascinating meditation on identity that explores the novelist's own mixed heritage and mixed feelings....A true citizen of the world....With great insight and compassion, Abani reveals that behind his-and every-face are unseen scars.\" -San Francisco Chronicle  In The Face: Cartography of the Void, acclaimed Nigerian-born author and poet Chris Abani has given us a profound and gorgeously wrought short memoir that navigates the stories written upon his own face. Beginning with his early childhood immersed in the Igbo culture of West Africa, Abani unfurls a lushly poetic, insightful, and funny narrative that investigates the roles that race, culture, and language play in fashioning our sense of self.   As Abani so lovingly puts it, he contemplates \"all the people who have touched my face, slapped it, punched it, kissed it, washed it, shaved it. All of that human contact must leave some trace, some of the need and anger that motivated that touch. This face is softened by it all. Made supple by all the wonder it has beheld, all the kindness, all the generosity of life.\" The Face: Cartography of the Void is a gift to be read, re-read, shared, and treasured, from an author at the height of his artistic powers.   Alternately philosophical, funny, personal, political, and poetic, the short memoirs in The Face series offer unique perspectives from some of our favorite writers. 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Trained as a human mine detector, a boy soldier in West Africa witnesses and takes part in unspeakable brutality. At 12 his vocal cords are cut to prevent him from screaming and giving away his platoon's presence, should he be blown up. Awaking after an explosion to find that he's lost his platoon, he traces his steps back through abandoned villages and rotting corpses and through his own memories in search of his comrades. 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Broke, beset by floods, and beatings by his alcoholic father, and with no job opportunities in sight, Elvis is tempted by a life of crime. Thus begins his odyssey into the dangerous underworld of Lagos, guided by his friend Redemption and accompanied by a restless hybrid of voices including The King of Beggars, Sunday, Innocent and Comfort. Ultimately, young Elvis, drenched in reggae and jazz, and besotted with American film heroes and images, must find his way to a GraceLand of his own.  Nuanced, lyrical, and pitch perfect, Abani has created a remarkable story of a son and his father, and an examination of postcolonial Nigeria where the trappings of American culture reign supreme. \"A richly detailed, poignant, and utterly fascinating look into another culture and how it is cross-pollinated by our own. It brings to mind the work of Ha Jin in its power and revelation of the new.\"--T. 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Compelling and gorgeously written, this is a coming-of-age novel like no other.' - Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban'","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49582942486801,"sku":"GOR002588350","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50394555744529,"sku":"CIN1888451947G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50394556891409,"sku":"CIN1888451947VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1888451947.jpg?v=1751028045"},{"product_id":"virgin-of-flames-book-chris-abani-9780099515920","title":"The Virgin of Flames","description":"For Black, a mural artist in East L.A., the city's tumbledown landscape is his canvas. Residing in a ramshackle apartment above 'The Ugly Store', he lives for his art and obsesses over Sweet Girl, the transvestite stripper who serves as his muse. Black navigates life alongside the Los Angeles River, 'iridescent in its concrete sleeve', enlisting his friends - Iggy, the beautiful tattoo artist who has beguiled Hollywood's elite, and Bomboy, a wealthy Rwandan butcher - as he confronts his past and struggles to find his place in the world.  Chris Abani touches on the far reaches of psychic pain, religious and sexual, and takes the reader on an unforgettable journey.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49603125117201,"sku":"GOR010300601","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49624265916689,"sku":"GOR005163116","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50323138347281,"sku":"GOR005145110","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50560451739921,"sku":"GOR011844801","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/009951592X.jpg?v=1762337245"},{"product_id":"dog-woman-book-chris-abani-9781888996821","title":"Dog Woman","description":"Chris Abani's Dog Woman is a mesmerizing, haunting, and sometimes subversive exploration of the personal and cultural politics of disempowerment and power. In these heart rousing and lyrically complex poems, the poet enacts the reconstruction of his feminized selves, and his personae struggle to re-form and transform both themselves and the difficult worlds they inhabit. At turns, earthy, enigmatic, devout, outraged, and compassionate, these elemental women's voices ring true, as they sing siren songs, dirges, and hosannas, and as they navigate into new and unknown territories of human will and endurance. Dog Woman is a daring, trailblazing, and important book; it's a vital addition to the poetry of our times.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49604862312721,"sku":"GOR013604983","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49650194448657,"sku":"CIN188899682XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52674111897873,"sku":"NLS9781888996821","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/188899682X.jpg?v=1751346906"},{"product_id":"virgin-of-flames-book-chris-abani-9780143038771","title":"The Virgin of Flames","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of the award-winning \u003ci\u003eGraceLand\u003c\/i\u003e comes a searing, dazzlingly written novel of a tarnished City of Angels\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003ePraised as \"singular\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e) and \"extraordinary\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e), \u003ci\u003eGraceLand\u003c\/i\u003e stunned critics and instantly established Chris Abani as an exciting new voice in fiction. In his second novel, set against the uncompromising landscape of East L.A., Abani follows a struggling artist named Black, whose life and friendships reveal a world far removed from the mainstream. Through Black's journey of self- discovery, Abani raises essential questions about poverty, religion, and ethnicity in America today. \u003ci\u003eThe Virgin of Flames\u003c\/i\u003e, a marvelous and gritty novel filled with indelible images and unforgettable characters, confirms Chris Abani as an immensely talented writer.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49618646597905,"sku":"GOR009252997","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345640919313,"sku":"CIN014303877XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50886376128785,"sku":"GOR014104980","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50999456006417,"sku":"NIN9780143038771","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52724925989137,"sku":"CIN014303877XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/014303877X.jpg?v=1751445455"},{"product_id":"lagos-noir-book-chris-abani-9781617755231","title":"Lagos Noir","description":"Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct location within the geographic area of the book. West Africa enters the Noir Series arena, meticulously edited by one of Nigeria's best-known authors. Brand-new stories by: Chris Abani, Nnedi Okorafor, E.C. Osondu, Jude Dibia, Chika Unigwe, A. 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From the introduction by Chris Abani:  The thirteen stories that comprise this volume stretch the boundaries of \"noir\" fiction, but each one of them fully captures the essence of noir, the unsettled darkness that continues to lurk in the city's streets, alleys, and waterways...Together, these stories create an unchartered path through the center of Lagos and out to its peripheries, revealing so much more truth at the heart of this tremendous city than any guidebook, TV show, film, or book you are likely to find.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49737640968465,"sku":"NGR9781911115731","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50018047787281,"sku":"GOR009727951","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50235191951633,"sku":"GOR013507229","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51481665143057,"sku":"CIN1911115731G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52614785597713,"sku":"NLS9781911115731","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1911115731.jpg?v=1750726667"},{"product_id":"song-for-night-book-chris-abani-9781933354316","title":"Song For Night","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Chris Abani might be the most courageous writer working right now. There is no subject matter he finds daunting, no challenge he fears. Aside from that, he's stunningly prolific and writes like an angel. If you want to get at the molten heart of contemporary fiction, Abani is the starting point.\" -Dave Eggers, author of What Is the What\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePart Inferno, part Paradise Lost, and part Sunjiata epic, Song for Night is the story of a West African boy soldier's lyrical, terrifying, yet beautiful journey through the nightmare landscape of a brutal war in search of his lost platoon. The reader is led by the voiceless protagonist who, as part of a land mine-clearing platoon, had his vocal chords cut; a move to keep these children from screaming when blown up, and thereby distracting the other minesweepers. Written in a ghostly voice, each chapter is headed by a line of the unique sign language these children invented. 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When he encounters a pair of conjoined twins with a container of blood near their car, he's sure he has apprehended the killers, and enlists the help of Dr. Sunil Singh, a South African transplant who specializes in the study of psychopaths. As Sunil tries to crack the twins, the implications of his research grow darker. Haunted by his betrayal of loved ones back home during apartheid, he seeks solace in the love of Asia, a prostitute with hopes of escaping that life. 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