Full Description
Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets
2018 Arab American Book Award Winner, Poetry
"A taut debut collection of heartfelt poems."—Publishers Weekly
In her dedication Safia Elhillo writes, "The January Children are the generation born in Sudan under British occupation, where children were assigned birth years by height, all given the birth date January 1." What follows is a deeply personal collection of poems that describe the experience of navigating the postcolonial world as a stranger in one's own land.
The January Children depicts displacement and longing while also questioning accepted truths about geography, history, nationhood, and home. The poems mythologize family histories until they break open, using them to explore aspects of Sudan's history of colonial occupation, dictatorship, and diaspora. Several of the poems speak to the late Egyptian singer Abdelhalim Hafez, who addressed many of his songs to the asmarani—an Arabic term of endearment for a brown-skinned or dark-skinned person. Elhillo explores Arabness and Africanness and the tensions generated by a hyphenated identity in those two worlds.
No longer content to accept manmade borders, Elhillo navigates a new and reimagined world. Maintaining a sense of wonder in multiple landscapes and mindscapes of perpetually shifting values, she leads the reader through a postcolonial narrative that is equally terrifying and tender, melancholy and defiant.
Contents
Foreword by Kwame Dawes
Acknowledgments
asmarani makes prayer
vocabulary
Sudan Today. Nairobi: University of Africa, 1971. Print.
to make use of water
[did our mothers invent loneliness or . . . ]
while being escorted from the abdelhalim hafez concert
application for the position of abdelhalim hafez's girl
abdelhalim hafez asks for references
talking with an accent about home
origin stories
a brief history of silence
the last time marvin gaye was heard in the sudan
first interview for the position of abdelhalim hafez's girl
the lovers
talking with an accent about home
first adornment
callback interview for the position of abdelhalim hafez's girl
bride price
old wives' tales
date night with abdelhalim hafez
first quarantine with abdelhalim hafez
self-portrait with dirty hair
watching arab idol with abdelhalim hafez
self-portrait with the question of race
second date
abdelhalim hafez wants to see other people
red moon night
self-portrait with yellow dress
others
alternate ending
[& what is a country but the drawing . . . .]
late-night phone call with abdelhalim hafez
republic of the sudan / ministry of interior / passport & immigration general directorate / alien from sudanese origin passcard
talking with an accent about home
talking with an accent about home (second take)
second quarantine with abdelhalim hafez
portrait with asylum
talking to boys about abdelhalim hafez at parties
biopic containing lies about abdelhalim hafez
asmarani does psychogeography
why abdelhalim
self-portrait with lake nasser
abdelhalim hafez asks who the sudanese are
the part i keep forgetting
talking with an accent about home (reprise)
third quarantine with abdelhalim hafez
final interview for the position of abdelhalim hafez's girl
self-portrait as abdelhalim hafez's girl
portrait with abdelhalim hafez with the question of race
lovers' quarrel with abdelhalim hafez
portrait of abdelhalim hafez as orpheus
glossary
everything i know about abdelhalim hafez
notes
