Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

"A novel that opens with a young man's murder on the day of the tumultuous 2007 election in Kenya, but then goes into the history of his family and of the splintered African nation around them--in scenes stretching back to a shocking political assassination in 1969 and the Mau Mau uprisings against British colonial rule in the 1950s"--

Dust

"From the award-winning author of Dust comes a vibrant, stunningly global novel about a young woman struggling to find her place--a poignant exploration of fate, mortality, love, and loss. On the small island of Pate, off the coast of Kenya, lives a girl named Ayaana. She is solitary and stubborn--she and her mother, Munira, are outcasts from the insular local society--and her kitten is her main companion. When a wizened sailor named Muhidin, also an outsider, enters their lives, Ayaana receives what she has long hoped for: a father. But this makeshift family's happiness crumbles as Ayaana grows into adulthood and the threats against her begin to mount: from an Islamic extremist, from the black-clad strangers who kidnap Muhidin's son, from a human trafficker, from the simmering resentments of those around her. So when a contingent of cultural emissaries from China invite Ayaana abroad, she embarks on a dramatic ship's journey to the Far East, where she will make friends and enemies; be seduced by the mercurial scion of a powerful Turkish business family; be initiated into a world of intrigue and passion and high stakes; and, at last, find understanding where she least expects it. Her one constant remains her devotion to the sea, which pulls her across the globe in search of a place where she can love and be loved. The Dragonfly Sea is a transcendent, gloriously told story of adventure, fraught choices, and of the inexorable need for shelter in a dangerous world"--

A Novel

The Dragonfly Sea

Kenya, 2007. Odidi Oganda, running for his life, is gunned down in the streets of Nairobi. His sister, Ajany, and their father bring his body back home, to a crumbling colonial house in northern Kenya. But the peace they seek is hard to find: the murder has stirred deeply buried memories of colonial violence, of the killing-sprees of the Mau Mau uprising, and the shocking political assassination of Tom Mboya in 1969. When a young Englishman appears, searching for his missing father, another story, of love, or at least a connectio.

a novel

Weight of Whispers

An audacious and beautiful novel that is both a unique family saga and a spellbinding story of the country of Kenya

Ed Pavlic

Evie Shockley

Ladan Osman

Original poetry, fiction, and cultural criticism explore issues of trust, bridge-building, difference, and betrayal, both political and private. How do we know who is on our side? Is it possible for someone who is not like us to share our hopes? Can links forged by empathy or mutual interest match those created by shared experience? What can we gain from alliances that we cannot achieve on our own? These are difficult question to answer even in intimate settings, and more so in arenas of cultural and political struggle. Through original poetry, fiction, and cultural criticism from both established writers and newcomers, Allies offers unique insights into issues of trust, bridge-building, difference, and betrayal. Drawing on the prophetic power of the imagination to conjure both the possible dangers and life-giving possibilities of alliances—be they political, private (such as marriage), therapeutic, or even aesthetic (between readers and writers, for example)—Allies will be essential reading for our times. Allies is the first publication of Boston Review's newly inaugurated Arts in Society department. A radical revisioning of the magazine's poetry and fiction, the department unites them—along with cultural criticism and belles lettres—into a project that explores how the arts can speak directly to the most pressing political and civic concerns of our age, from growing inequality to racial and gender regimes, a disempowered electorate, and a collapsing natural world. Fiction Samuel Delay, Tananarive Due, Catherine Taylor Poetry Jane Miller, Ru Puro, Emilia Nielsen, Sarah Vap, Rachel Levitsky, Tess Liem Interviews Walter Johnson and Tef Poe, Robin D. G. Kelley and Vijay Iyer Essays Roderick Ferguson, Micki McEyla, Mark Nowak, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Abdullah Taïa

Allies

NAMED A REAL SIMPLE BOOK OF THE YEAR From the award-winning author of Dust comes a vibrant, stunning coming-of-age novel about a young woman struggling to find her place in a vast world--a poignant exploration of fate, mortality, love, and loss. On the island of Pate, off the coast of Kenya, lives solitary, stubborn Ayaana and her mother, Munira. When a sailor named Muhidin, also an outsider, enters their lives, Ayaana finds something she has never had before: a father. But as Ayaana grows into adulthood, forces of nature and history begin to reshape her life and the island itself--from a taciturn visitor with a murky past to a sanctuary-seeking religious extremist, from dragonflies to a tsunami, from black-clad kidnappers to cultural emissaries from China. Ayaana ends up embarking on a dramatic ship's journey to the Far East, where she will discover friends and enemies; be seduced by the charming but unreliable scion of a powerful Turkish business family; reclaim her devotion to the sea; and come to find her own tenuous place amid a landscape of beauty and violence and surprising joy. Told with a glorious lyricism and an unerring sense of compassion, The Dragonfly Sea is a transcendent story of adventure, fraught choices, and of the inexorable need for shelter in a dangerous world.

Her. Hun kunne male dette; holde penselen som en kniv klar til stikk. Der. Fargelegge savnets landskaper. Hun kunne tegne dette for ham, denne lengselen etter å høre akkurat denne stemmen, lytte etter ekko av blodige skritt, låne døde øyne for å hjelpe henne med å finne ham igjen. Her. Takkete topper av skade, og over fjellskrentene en enorm foss av lengsel, som faller og faller ned i intet. Støv er en storslagen fortelling om kjærlighet og smerte, som strekker seg over seksti år av Kenyas moderne historie. Romanen starter med drapet på Odidi Oganda – en ung dissident som blir skutt ned i Nairobis gater. Søsteren forsøker å nøste opp i omstendighetene rundt brorens død, en søken som skal vise seg å åpne gamle sår og vekke minner om kolonial brutalitet. Når det i tillegg dukker opp en ung engelskmann på jakt etter sin savnede far, trer en ny sammenheng og en ny mulighet for kjærlighet og forsoning frem. På monumentalt vis skildrer denne romanen menneskets springende og mangefasetterte følelsesregister. Den stadige vekslingen mellom hensynsløs realisme og poetisk språkføring, gjør boken til en enestående litterær reise.

Støv

Kenia, 2007. Odidi Oganda, ein hochtalentierter Student, wird in den Straßen Nairobis erschossen. Seine Schwester Ajany kehrt aus Brasilien zurück, um mit ihrem Vater seinen Leichnam nach Hause zu überführen. Doch die Heimkehr auf die verfallene Farm im Norden des Landes hält keinen Trost für sie bereit. Zu schmerzhaft sind die Erinnerungen, die der Mord heraufbeschworen hat und die die Familie im Griff halten: an die koloniale Gewaltherrschaft und die blutigen Auseinandersetzungen nach der Unabhängigkeit. Ajanys Mutter flieht von Wut und Trauer erfüllt in die Wildnis. Und ihr Vater muss sich einer brutalen Wahrheit stellen. Doch im Moment größter Verzweiflung entsteht auch etwas Neues: Eine Liebe – oder zumindest eine Verbindung – nimmt ihren Anfang. ›Der Ort, an dem die Reise endet‹ ist ein großer Roman über eine versehrte Familie und ein zerrissenes Land. Mit einer Sprache, die einem den Atem raubt, voller Kraft und Intensität, erzählt Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor eine Geschichte von universeller Dringlichkeit – eine Geschichte von Macht und Täuschung, von unerwiderter Liebe und dem unbeirrbaren Willen zum Überleben. »Dieser kraftvolle erste Roman wird Vergleiche mit William Boyd und sogar Graham Greene und Joseph Conrad evozieren ... Eine wichtige Ergänzung der Literatur der afrikanischen Gegenwart.« BOOKLIST »Owuor beweist auf diesen Seiten außergewöhnliches Talent und eine beachtliche Bandbreite. Ihr Stil ist im Wechsel impressionistisch und rau, beschwörend und drängend. Ein bemerkenswerter Roman.« THE WASHINGTON POST

Roman

Der Ort, an dem die Reise endet

Auf der Insel Pate, vor der Küste Kenias, lebt die eigensinnige Ayaana mit ihrer Mutter Munira. Als ein Matrose namens Muhidin in ihr Leben tritt, findet Ayaana etwas, das sie bislang noch nie hatte und wonach sie sich immer gesehnt hat: einen Vater. Doch als Ayaana erwachsen wird, muss sie mit einschneidenden Ereignissen zurechtkommen, die nicht nur sie selbst, sondern auch das Leben auf der Insel tiefgreifend verändern: Religiöse Extremisten suchen Zuflucht auf der Insel, China streckt seine Fühler nach Afrika aus und sendet Kulturbotschafter, mit einem Tsunami fordert die Natur ihren Tribut. So beschließt Ayaana, in der Ferne ihr Glück zu suchen und ein Studium in China zu beginnen. Sie begibt sich auf eine gefährliche Schiffsreise, die letztlich vor allem eines ist – eine Reise zu sich selbst. Nach ihrem gefeierten Debütroman ›Der Ort, an dem die Reise endet‹ legt Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor einen kraftvoll erzählten Roman über eine junge Frau vor, die darum kämpft, ihren Platz in der Welt zu finden – eine ergreifende Geschichte über Schicksal, Tod, Liebe und Verlust.

Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

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