{"product_id":"the-january-children","title":"January Children","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSillerman First Book Prize for African Poets\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e2018 Arab American Book Award Winner, Poetry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"A taut debut collection of heartfelt poems.\"\u003c\/b\u003e-\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn her dedication Safia Elhillo writes, “The January Children are the generation born in Sudan under British occupation, where children were assigned birth years by height, all given the birth date January 1.” What follows is a deeply personal collection of poems that describe the experience of navigating the postcolonial world as a stranger in one’s own land.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe January Children\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e depicts displacement and longing while also questioning accepted truths about geography, history, nationhood, and home. The poems mythologize family histories until they break open, using them to explore aspects of Sudan’s history of colonial occupation, dictatorship, and diaspora. Several of the poems speak to the late Egyptian singer Abdelhalim Hafez, who addressed many of his songs to the \u003ci\u003easmarani\u003c\/i\u003e-an Arabic term of endearment for a brown-skinned or dark-skinned person. Elhillo explores Arabness and Africanness and the tensions generated by a hyphenated identity in those two worlds.\u003cbr\u003e No longer content to accept manmade borders, Elhillo navigates a new and reimagined world. Maintaining a sense of wonder in multiple landscapes and mindscapes of perpetually shifting values, she leads the reader through a postcolonial narrative that is equally terrifying and tender, melancholy and defiant.  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":32043798986835,"sku":"9780803295988","price":17.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780803295988_09409935-ebb4-4d84-93c2-20ff50b07133.jpg?v=1779251424","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/the-january-children","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}