2019 Button Poetry Prize Winner
Born in a Second Language investigates how translation shapes and alters both language and identity as speakers travel through space and time.
In this book, languages are a means of conjuring an existence, of full expression and of defining who one becomes. Home exists on a spectrum: Botswana, Zambia, Ghana, one's body, music, mother, mother tongue etc.
Akosua Zimba Afiriyie-Hwedie's book is an exploration of African and female identity, navigating what it means to be in-between identities, languages and homes and how those in-between spaces brush up against each other, and are in themselves, a home too.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Akosua Zimba Afiriyie-Hwedie is a Zambian-Ghanaian poet who was raised in Botswana. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan. She is a Hopwood and Meader Family Award winner. Akosua has received fellowships from Callaloo and the Watering Hole. Her work has appeared in Bettering American poetry, WusGood?, The Felt, and is forthcoming in Platypus Press.
my parents met in English / a language learned / alongside each of their mother tongues / this to
say i was born / in a second language / born because of English
in English / i have voice but no culture / in Nyanja / my ears say to my feet /
how come this body does not recognize its own tongue?
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Seller: ThriftBooks-Reno, Reno, NV, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1943735921I4N00
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1943735921I4N00
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1943735921I3N00
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1943735921I3N10
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1943735921I4N00
Seller: World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. Born in a Second Language troubles the spectrum between silence (or the limitations of the mouth) and music. Language is an embodied practice, especially present through our hands. Words, specifically names, are a means of conjuring a certain kind of existence, and defining who one will become. Thus, different languages unlock different worlds, and the names speakers answer to open them up to different becomings. Born in a Second Language is curious about the sonic, imagistic and linear implications on the page of speaking multiple languages when political, historical and cultural weights contend. Seller Inventory # 00099787633
Seller: Books From California, Simi Valley, CA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Seller Inventory # mon0003387090
Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. Born in a Second Language troubles the spectrum between silence (or the limitations of the mouth) and music. Language is an embodied practice, especially present through our hands. Words, specifically names, are a means of conjuring a certain kind of existence, and defining who one will become. Thus, different languages unlock different worlds, and the names speakers answer to open them up to different becomings. Born in a Second Language is curious about the sonic, imagistic and linear implications on the page of speaking multiple languages when political, historical and cultural weights contend. Seller Inventory # CIN1943735921G
Seller: Magers and Quinn Booksellers, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
paperback. Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 1252356
Seller: GreatBookPrices, Columbia, MD, U.S.A.
Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 42680744-n