A rain of words; a bilingual anthology of women's poetry in Francophone Africa

Reference & Research Book News, May, 2009

A rain of words; a bilingual anthology of women's poetry in Francophone Africa.

Ed. by Irene Assiba d'Almeida; trans by Janis A. Mayes.

U. of Virginia Press

2009

293 pages

$24.50

Paperback

CARAF books

PQ3986

This collection brings together poetry by 47 French-speaking women from West and Central Africa, some established and some in the beginning of their careers. Essays by D'Almeida (French and francophone studies, U. of Arizona), who traveled to Africa to collect the poems, and Mayes (African American studies, Syracuse U.) provide an introduction on the role of women in oral traditions and notes on the translations. Presented in alphabetical order by author, all poems are published in English for the first time and are accompanied by the original French version and very brief biographies.

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