“Silence Became My Mother Tongue”: A Conversation with Sulaiman Addonia, by Anderson Tepper

Interviews Photo of Sulaiman Addonia by Alexander Meeus. For me, one of the most astounding books of this past year—which may have slipped your attention due to the pandemic—was Silence Is My Mother Tongue, the second novel by Ethiopian Eritrean writer Sulaiman Addonia (@sulaimanaddonia). Published last September by Graywolf Press, the novel is just now beginning to get the recognition it deserves: it was recently shortlisted for the Firecracker Award for Independently Published Literature and is a 2021 LAMBDA Literary Award finalist. Set in a refugee camp in Sudan, the novel defies expectations—shimmering with sensual detail, it charts the daily encounters and erotic dreams of an extraordinary cast of characters, with the inseparable siblings Saba and her mute brother, Hagos, at its center. Of course, since war erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray region this past winter, Addonia’s work has only taken on more resonance. “I have been looking at the pictures of refugees fleeing Tigray and waiting outside the United Nations refugee agency office at Hamdayet in Sudan,” Addonia wrote in a New York Times editorial in late November, “the place through which my family and I passed decades ago, on our way to a refugee camp further inland. I was struck by the eyes of young children. Their gazes retreat and shift, as if their wide eyes have already become the trenches into which they will hide their childhood.” We spoke by email—Addonia... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2021-05-18 13:43:22 UTC ]
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Facebook’s growing video power has publishers embracing the sound of silence

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[ Digiday | 2015-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Story of mother on trial to Mantle

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dreams From My Mother

Of all the reactions to the viral video of a woman pummeling and verbally abusing her teenage son during the Baltimore uprisings, one stood out above the rest: an essay in the New York Times that used the video as fodder for explaining “What Black Moms Know” and why we are superior parents.... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2015-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Anderson and Nadel pen self-help guide for women

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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S&S Children’s signs mother daughter duo

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'War and Peace' BBC adaptation will star Jim Broadbent, Gillian Anderson

The adaptation will also star actors Paul Dano and Lily James. It's being directed by Tom Harper of 'Peaky Blinders.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

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Gillian Anderson joins Oscar's First Book judges

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Native Tongues: Middle East Fiction in Translation: Middle East Books 2015

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Murdered Lee Rigby's mother signs book deal

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ABA Winter Institute 2015: Conversations with Keynoters

Winter Institute offers many ways for booksellers to interact with authors, with dozens participating in Tuesday evening’s author reception and Wednesday’s closing event with writers from small presses and university presses. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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The Andersons Make Bid to Buy Books-A-Million

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Patterson Launches Self-Destructing Book With Help of Mother N.Y.

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12 years invisible: How Martin Pistorius emerged from a 'prison' of silence

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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Carol Evans Leaves Working Mother Media

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[ Folio Magazine | 2015-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Anderson's Bookshops to Add Third Location

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mother of Columbine Shooter Sells Memoir to Crown

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Blackman: 'I will not be silenced by racist abuse'

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Minka Disbrow, Mother Who Never Gave Up, Dies at 102

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BEA 2014: Kathy Reichs: A Villain, a Mother, and Temperance Brennan

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BEA 2014: Jodi Picoult: Mothers, Daughters, and Grief Among Elephants

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