an/other pastoral
Book of ecopoetry by Tjawangwa Dema, with illustrations by Tebogo Cranwell and a foreword by Chris Abani.
‘Vivid, engaging and highly inventive, [...] an extraordinarily assured and deeply moving new collection that will stand as one of the very finest new books of poetry for years to come.‘ —John Burnside
‘This collection is a powerful expression of a diasporic African ecopoetics. With an intense vision and unique voice, Tjawangwa Dema poignantly addresses themes of racial, environmental, food, animal, and climate justice.’ —Craig Santos Perez
‘Precise and unforgettable.’ —Jessica J Lee
Wide-ranging and polyvocal, an/other pastoral questions what we imagine to be the boundaries between humans and nature. History, belonging and race converge with climate crisis, ecosystems and care in these startling and vibrant poems by Tjawangwa Dema. With illustrations by Tebogo Cranwell and a foreword by Chris Abani, an/other pastoral is a compelling collection that refuses easy representations of where nature can be found, and what it means to be human now.
Tender, witty, engaged, and rich with intertextual allusion.
—Helen Moore
an/other pastoral unravels its curious, intimate lyricism through engaged reflection on beauty and suffering, the life of the human and the natural 'other'.
—Samantha Walton
In riveting lines, Tjawangwa Dema shows that “all nature speaks if we listen.” Her speakers both listen and see. Her steady gaze reveals an earth as layered with history as striations in rock. By the end, we may discover the shape of listening, the “body, that first country to which/ [we] belong”.
—Gabeba Baderoon
an/other pastoral is a tapestry of heartfelt musings that move across histories and cultures, questioning their impact and purpose. Dema decodes the world around us - here we are, between what the borders mean by country, and what the nightingale and eel mean by wind, by water. This book is full of revelations.
—Nick Makoha
A collection brimming with hot light. Each poem has its own tidal pull.
—Nina Mingya Powles
Published 22nd April 2022 - pre-orders will be shipped from this date.
Shipping: UK & Europe - Royal Mail 2nd Class
About the author
Tjawangwa Dema is a poet and educator. The Careless Seamstress, her first full-length collection, won the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets.
About the illustrator
Tebogo Cranwell is a Motswana artist, based in Botswana, whose work explores beauty, femininity, sensuality and intimacy. She uses light and dark to bring a subtle, modern, minimalist aesthetic to portraiture.
About the foreword author
Chris Abani is an acclaimed novelist and poet. His most recent books are The Secret History of Las Vegas, The Face: Cartography of the Void and Smoking the Bible. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the PEN/Hemingway Award and a Ford USA Artists Fellowship.