Sanctificum by Chris Abani

Sanctificum by Chris Abani

"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." --Library Journal

"Stunning poems." --New Humanist

A 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.

Sanctificum, 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.

I say hibiscus and mean innocence.
I say guava and mean childhood.
I say mosquito netting and mean loss.
I say father and it means only that.
Happen that we all dream, but the sea is only sea.
Happen that we call upon God but it is only a breeze
ruffling a prayer book in a small church
where benches groan in the heat . . .

Chris Abani 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 GraceLand. He teaches at the University of California-Riverside and lives in Los Angeles.

Amatisoritsero Ede, born in Nigeria, worked as an editor at Spectrum Books, a major Nigerian publisher. His previous poetry collections have won various awards, including the ANA All Africa Christopher Okigbo Prize for Literature (endowed by Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel Laureate for literature). His writing also appears in various anthologies and he was the 2005-2006 Writer-in-Residence at Carleton University. Chris Abani, curator of Akashic's Black Goat poetry imprint, is a Nigerian poet and novelist and the author of Song for Night, The Virgin of Flames, Becoming Abigail, and GraceLand (a selection of the Today Show Book Club; winner of the 2005 PEN/Hemingway Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781556593161
ISBN 10	1556593163
Title	Sanctificum
Author	Chris Abani
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Copper Canyon Press,U.S.
Year published	2010-05-13
Number of pages	96
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.