Home Is Not a Country

Home Is Not a Country - Paperback

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Home Is Not a Country
  • Home Is Not a Country
Home Is Not a Country - Paperback

Home Is Not a Country - Paperback

by Safia Elhillo
$11.99
$11.99

Book Overview

by Safia Elhillo (Author)

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD - A CORETTA SCOTT KING HONOR BOOK - A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE CENTURY

"Nothing short of magic." --Elizabeth Acevedo, New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X

From the acclaimed poet featured on Forbes Africa's "30 Under 30" list, this powerful novel-in-verse captures one girl, caught between cultures, on an unexpected journey to face the ephemeral girl she might have been. Woven through with moments of lyrical beauty, this is a tender meditation on family, belonging, and home.

my mother meant to name me for her favorite flower
its sweetness garlands made for pretty girls
i imagine her yasmeen bright & alive
& i ache to have been born her instead

Nima wishes she were someone else. She doesn't feel understood by her mother, who grew up in a different land. She doesn't feel accepted in her suburban town; yet somehow, she isn't different enough to belong elsewhere. Her best friend, Haitham, is the only person with whom she can truly be herself. Until she can't, and suddenly her only refuge is gone.

As the ground is pulled out from under her, Nima must grapple with the phantom of a life not chosen--the name her parents meant to give her at birth--Yasmeen. But that other name, that other girl, might be more real than Nima knows. And the life Nima wishes were someone else's. . . is one she will need to fight for with a fierceness she never knew she possessed.

Author Biography

Safia Elhillo is the author of the poetry collection The January Children, which received the the 2016 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets and a 2018 Arab American Book Award.

Sudanese by way of Washington, DC, she holds an MFA from The New School, a Cave Canem Fellowship, and a 2018 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. Safia is a Pushcart Prize nominee, co-winner of the 2015 Brunel International African Poetry Prize, and listed in Forbes Africa's 2018 "30 Under 30." She is a 2019-2021 Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.
Number of Pages: 224
Dimensions: 0.6 x 8.1 x 5.4 IN
Publication Date: February 22, 2022
Award: Coretta Scott King Award (2022)
ISBN9780593177082
Author Safia Elhillo
PublisherMake Me a World
GenreYoung adult and Literature
FormatPaperback
PublishedFebruary 2022
LanguageENG- English
Pages224
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceTeens & young adults and Adults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Young Adult Fiction Young Adults

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About Safia Elhillo

Safia Elhillo is an award-winning poet and author. Her debut YA novel in verse, Home Is Not a Country, was longlisted for the National Book Award and received a Coretta Scott King Author Honor and an Arab American Book Award. Sudanese by way of Washington, DC, Safia is a Pushcart Prize nominee, co-winner of the 2015 Brunel International African Poetry Prize, and listed in Forbes Africa's 2018 "30 Under 30." She lives in Los Angeles.

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