“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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Who are the most talented but under-appreciated writers in America?

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This Week’s Reykjavík International Literary Festival: ‘Cozy Venues’

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Sissay, Osman and Slimani to star at hybrid Durham Book Festival

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England’s Cliveden Literary Festival Plans a Physical Presentation

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Tasmanian author Amanda Lohrey wins prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award for The Labyrinth

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Emmanuel Carrère’s Dark Places, by Felipe Restrepo Pombo

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World Literature Today Announces Finalists for 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature

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Macdonald and Gates win Richard Jefferies Society Literary Prize

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

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Louise Erdrich Wins the $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize

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$40,000 Swindle Puts Spotlight on Literary Prize Scams

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Octavia Butler's legacy celebrated at Barbican feminist literary festival

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Aspen Words’ $35,000 Literary Prize Names Its 2021 Finalists

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PEN America Announces Its 2021 Literary Award Finalists

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