Our friends at Warscapes and the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics are co-hosting a fine-looking event on Tuesday, September 25 from 6:30pm-8:30pm in the Sociology Lounge (Room 6112), at the Grad Center. Details below!
“The world beyond the horizon has always had a particular fascination for Somali writers,” writes Nadifa Mohamed, “and as Somalia imploded in the late 1980s and its citizens sought sanctuary in whichever port they could find, writers have emerged who attempt to describe this sudden, violent dispersal.” Mohamed was born in Hargeisa, Somalia in 1981 and was educated in the UK, studying History and Politics at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford. Her first novel. Black Mamba Boy, the story of one boy’s long walk to freedom, is also the story of how the Second World War affected Africa and its people, a story of displacement and family. It was longlisted for the 2010 Guardian First book Award. She has written about the history of Somali writing, the challenges of being a Somali immigrant in the UK and has participated in the Hargeysa Book Fair, an unique international literary event held in Somaliland each year. Nadifa will read from her upcoming second novel Milk and Peace about four women caught in the throes of the Somali civil war.
About the Author:
Nadifa Mohamed was born in Hargeisa, Somalia in 1981 and was educated in the UK, studying History and Politics at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford. She lives in London.
Discussant: Peter Hitchcock , Associate Director, The Center for Place, Culture and Politics and author of The Long Space: Transnationalism and Postcolonial Form (Stanford University Press, 2010).
Books will be available for sale; signing to follow discussion.
