"This annual anthology of emerging African poets edited by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani introduces new poets, each with a chapbook as part of the boxed set. The anthology, along with other projects of the African Poetry Book Fund, is credited with publishing the earliest work of rising African stars such as Warsan Shire, Safia Elhillo and Ladan Osman."
--The Root, Included in Best Black Books of 2018
"Tano is exquisitely composed and designed. This is a boxed set to be collected--and coveted."
--World Literature Today
"[This collection] continues the African Poetry Book Fund project to identify the best poetry by African poets working today and ensure their publication. This 12-piece, limited-edition box set features the work of 11 new poets."
--Publishers Weekly, Spring 2018 Announcements, Poetry
"[James's] limited-edition chapbook was selected by Kwame Dawes, Chris Abani, and the African Poetry Book Fund, in collaboration with Akashic Books, for the 2018 New-Generation African Poets Box Set, and I am tickled pink for its release this month. James's voice is so unique and genuine; she's definitely a poet to have on your poetdar, and I'm sure this whole collection will be stellar."
--The Coil, Omotara James's "Daughter Tongue" included in Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2018 and Most Anticipated April 2018 Books
"Rasaq Malik challenged himself and then us when he decided to see Boko Haram from the inside. He bravely bares witness for the many who cannot. No Home In This Land is knock-out poetry. A big, big price was paid for each of these poems."
--Today's Book of Poetry, on No Home In This Land by Rasaq Malik
Critical Praise for the Previous Chapbook Box Sets:
"An ambitious, vital project that delivers exactly what it promises...As a group, the chapbooks dispel stereotypes about African writing. They also illustrate what editors Dawes and Abani note about the many ways poets can understand or redefine their ties to Africa."
--Washington Post on New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Tatu)
"Dawes and Abani have taken on the vital project of publishing short collections by contemporary poets from Africa, packaged together in beautiful boxed sets."
--New York Times Magazine
The limited-edition box set is an annual project started in 2014 to ensure the publication of up to a dozen chapbooks by African poets through Akashic Books. The series seeks to identify the best poetry written by African poets working today, and it is especially interested in featuring poets who have not yet published their first full-length book of poetry.
The eleven poets included in this box set are: Leila Chatti, Saddiq Dzukogi, Amanda Holiday, Omotara James, Yalie Kamara, Rasaq Malik, Umniya Najaer, Kechi Nomu, Romeo Oriogun, Henk Rossouw, and Alexis Teyie.
About the Author:
Kwame Dawes is the Ghanian-born, award-winning author of eighteen collections of poetry. He has won Pushcart Prizes, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Emmy, and was the 2013 awardee of the Paul Engel Prize. He currently teaches at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Chris Abani, a Nigerian-born, award-winning poet and novelist, currently teaches at Northwestern University in Chicago. He is the recipient of a PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award, a Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a California Book Award, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, a PEN Beyond Margins Award, a PEN/Hemingway Award, and a Guggenheim Award.
