Every year, Akashic Books has been releasing chapbooks box set by new African poets. The box set, according to the publisher, is to ensure “the publication of up to a dozen chapbooks every year 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.
This year, Akashic Books will be releasing a new chapbook box set on June 1, 2021. This year’s chapbook box set is titled, New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Nane). The series is edited by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani. This is a fourteen-piece, limited-edition box set that features the work of thirteen new African poets. You can preorder the chapbook here. The New York Times Magazines has praised the series as: Dawes and Abani have taken on the vital project of publishing short collections by contemporary poets from Africa, packaged together in beautiful boxed sets. Washington Post: “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. These insights are poignant and valuable, especially at a time when millions around the globe find themselves somewhere between new countries and ancestral lands they’ve left behind.”
Shelf Awareness: “A collection pulsing with fresh talent in a series that poetry lovers worldwide should be grateful for.” The thirteen poets included in this box set are: Selina Nwulu, Ayan M. Omar, Jeremy TeddyKarn, Ajibola Tolase, Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu, Sara Elkamel, Precious Arinze, Lameese Badr,Qutouf Yahia, Edil Hassan, Kolawole Adebayo, Cynthia Amoah, and Saradha Soobrayen.
Recent Comments