Bad Diaspora Poems: 'A once in a generation poet' Caleb Femi

Diaspora is a debut collection by Momtaza Mehri that explores the ambivalent nature of speaking for those who have been left behind, mixing her own family's experience with the stories of others across nineteenth- and twentieth-century Somalia. The poems are lyric, prose, and text messages, taking place in living rooms, marketplaces, buses, balconies, transatlantic journeys, and online.

Format: Hardback
Length: 128 pages
Publication date: 06 July 2023
Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Diaspora, the highly anticipated debut collection from a remarkable poetic voice, is witnessing a murder without getting blood on your shirt.

***WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION******A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023***

Exceptional Mehri is a truly transnational poet of the twenty-first century, Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other. A once-in-a-generation poet, Caleb Femi, author of Poor. The definition of diaspora is the dispersion of people from their original homeland. But what does it mean to write diaspora poetry? Momtaza Mehri's debut collection poses this question, taking us from Mogadishu to Naples, Lampedusa to London. Mixing her own family's experience with the stories of many others across nineteenth- and twentieth-century Somalia, Bad Diaspora Poems confronts the ambivalent nature of speaking for those who have been left behind.

We meet the poet, the translator, the refugee, the exile, and the diaspora kid attempting to transcend their cliched angst. Told in lyric, prose, and text messages, and taking place in living rooms and marketplaces, on buses and balconies, on transatlantic journeys, and online, these are essential poems about our diasporic age.

Weight: 224g
Dimension: 143 x 206 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781787334373