Poetry / French & English
181 Pages
ISBN: 1597660094
Paper: $18.95

This dual-language collection of poems is by leading African writer Véronique Tadjo. Originally published in 1984 by Hatier, Latérite [Red Earth] was Tadjo's first book of poems, winning the Prix Litteraire De L'Agence de Cooperation Culturelle et Technique. The original title comes from the red mineral composition of many West African roads and is suggestive of change, the uncertain future, and the ages old and continuing displacement of peoples and cultures. She refers to it as a "collection of poems," but it reads like a long recitative, the pieces recapitulating each other in a language often striking in its color and elemental boldness. Celebrated for prose as well as poetry, Tadjo's story Mamy Wata and The Monster was voted one of the 100 most important African works of the 20th century. Red Earth is an important book from one of the third world's strongest and clearest voices.