Irki - Softcover

"This is marvelous verse. Why did she spend so much time doing other irrelevant things instead of writing poetry? I must get back to these poems--they are so meaningful! Go on, give us another volume!" --Jack Mapanje, author, "The Beasts of Nalunga"

"Witty and energetic, Kadija Sesay's poems come alive with the pulsating rhythms and smells of childhood and the clear, scalpel-like reflections of the adult complexities faced by a sensitive and keen-eyed woman in multicultural Britain." --Syl Cheney-Coker, award-winning author, "The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar"

"Examines the cultural interior of a woman coming of age. Kadija Sesay pulls us into Europe without forgetting Africa. There are many sides to blackness and one size doesn't fit all. Sesay's words are capable of creating a home. Place this book next to what you are eating. There is no longer a reason to be hungry. Because of Kadija we can finally say grace." --E. Ethelbert Miller, director, African American Resource Center, Howard University

A collection that brings to bear the memory of a pan-African homeland upon the reality of a British upbringing, this book unlocks stories—at times amusing and loving, at other times confusing and sad—that surround the “invisibility” of private fostering; the dislocations and negotiations of migration; and home as an imagined, remembered, and physical place. Exploring the idea of growing up black as one of the “Michael Jackson generation,” against the racially divided background of Britain in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, this poetry compilation also draws upon the poet’s travels to relate intimate childhood experiences.