Kumukanda

2017 | Fiction & Poetry

*AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 AND RADIO 6 MUSIC*
*FINANCIAL TIMES SUMMER PICK 2017*
*GUARDIAN BEST HOLIDAY READS 2017*

‘A brilliant debut – a tender, nostalgic and at times darkly hilarious exploration of black boyhood, masculinity and grief – from one of my favourite writers’ – Warsan Shire

Translating as ‘initiation’, kumukanda is the name given to the rites a young boy from the Luvale tribe must pass through before he is considered a man. The poems of Kayo Chingonyi’s remarkable debut explore this passage: between two worlds, ancestral and contemporary; between the living and the dead; between the gulf of who he is and how he is perceived.

Underpinned by a love of music, language and literature, here is a powerful exploration of race, identity and masculinity, celebrating what it means to be British and not British, all at once.

Kayo Chingonyi (Author)