How To Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir

Publisher:
Fourth Estate
| Author:
Safiya Sinclair
| Language:
English
| Format:
Paperback
Publisher:
Fourth Estate
Author:
Safiya Sinclair
Language:
English
Format:
Paperback

449

Save: 25%

In stock

Ships within:
5-7 Days

In stock

Book Type

Availiblity

ISBN:
SKU 9780008491321 Categories ,
Page Extent:
352

Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where luxury hotels line pristine white sand beaches, Safiya Sinclair grew up guarding herself against an ever-present threat. Her father, a volatile reggae musician and strict believer in a militant sect of Rastafari, railed against Babylon, the corrupting influence of the immoral Western world just beyond their gate. To protect the purity of the women in their family he forbade almost everything: nowhere but home and school, no friends but this family and no future but this path. Her mother did what she could to bring joy to her children with books and poetry. But as Safiya’s imagination reached beyond its restrictive borders, her burgeoning independence brought with it ever greater clashes with her father. Soon she realised that if she was to live at all, she had to find some way to leave home. But how? In seeking to understand the past of her family, Safiya Sinclair takes readers inside a world that is little understood by those outside it and offers an astonishing personal reckoning. How to Say Babylon is an unforgettable story of a young woman’s determination to live life on her own terms.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “How To Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir”

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Description

Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where luxury hotels line pristine white sand beaches, Safiya Sinclair grew up guarding herself against an ever-present threat. Her father, a volatile reggae musician and strict believer in a militant sect of Rastafari, railed against Babylon, the corrupting influence of the immoral Western world just beyond their gate. To protect the purity of the women in their family he forbade almost everything: nowhere but home and school, no friends but this family and no future but this path. Her mother did what she could to bring joy to her children with books and poetry. But as Safiya’s imagination reached beyond its restrictive borders, her burgeoning independence brought with it ever greater clashes with her father. Soon she realised that if she was to live at all, she had to find some way to leave home. But how? In seeking to understand the past of her family, Safiya Sinclair takes readers inside a world that is little understood by those outside it and offers an astonishing personal reckoning. How to Say Babylon is an unforgettable story of a young woman’s determination to live life on her own terms.

About Author

Safiya Sinclair was born and raised in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She is the author of the memoir, How to Say Babylon, fortHardbackoming in October 2023 from Simon and Schuster. She is also the author of Cannibal, winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Metcalf Award in Literature, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Poetry, and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry. Cannibal was selected as one of the American Library Association’s Notable Books of the Year, was a finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award and the Seamus Heaney First Book Award in the UK, and was longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize. Sinclair’s other honours include a PusHardbackart Prize, fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, the Civitella Rainieri Foundation, the Elizabeth George Foundation, MacDowell, Yaddo, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, The Nation, Poetry, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. She is currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Arizona State University.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “How To Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir”

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RELATED PRODUCTS

RECENTLY VIEWED