Publisher's Synopsis
From The Bare Life Review-the only publication whose sole mission is to publish the work of immigrant and refugee writers-comes a remarkable third volume, This Is the Language That Was Given to Us. Featuring original poetry and prose by fifteen writers from twelve different countries, from established stars to new and emerging talents, This Is the Language That Was Given to Us weaves a many-threaded tapestry, exemplifying the diversity and richness of international literature. This collection includes Namwali Serpell on the fragility of bonds old and new between people, and what the late Toni Morrison's seminal novel, Beloved, can teach us about love and intimacy; Sergio Aguilar Rivera's Kafkaesque evocation of the anxieties that might plague a new mother; poems by Josey Foo, Chekwube Danladi, and others; and newcomer Anna Andrew on seeking both refuge and sustenance across southern Sudan, Uganda, and Egypt. Of Andrew's work, editor-in-chief Nyuol Lueth Tong writes, Hunger itself becomes the very reality of exile... that hungering becomes the deeper hungering for home that plagues the displaced. Anna's recipes and cooking methods are her grammar of persistence, depository of memories and stories, the language that her survival has given her. Prose by: Anna Andrew Catharina Coenen Catherine C. Con Donna Hemans Pete Hsu Mehdi M. Kashani Sergio Aguilar Rivera Jesus Francisco Sierra Namwali Serpell Poetry by: Chekwube Danladi Josey Foo Siyun Fang Anca Roncea Liwa Sun And an interview with Matvei Yankelevich of Ugly Duckling Presse (conducted by Etan Nechin) AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: The Bare Life Review was founded in 2017 as the only literary biannual devoted entirely to publishing the work of immigrant and refugee writers. Let by Editor-in-Chief Nyuol Lueth Tong (There Is a Country: New Fiction from the New Nation of South Sudan, and McSweeney's 52: In Their Faces, a Landmark), its editorial staff is comprised of working writers, all immigrants in their own right. The editorial advisory board includes Dave Eggers, Akhil Sharma, Paul Harding, Ainehi Edoro, and others. The first two volumes of The Bare Life Review garnered recognition from the Pushcart Prize (Vol. 1, for Hoa Nguyen's poetry) and the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (Best Debut Magazine). The Bare Life Review is a member of Intersection for the Arts, a non-profit arts organization in San Francisco.
