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Fiona Williams
The House of Broken Bricks

The House of Broken Bricks is a sad and beautiful story about the cracks in the lives of the Hembrys, a mixed-race family in rural Somerset. It’s a family of four in a difficult situation and it seems like it’s going to break them. But maybe there is still a chance that they can somehow find their way back to each other?

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poco.lit. – Platform for postcolonial literatures in the widest sense.

Reviews

Fiona Williams
The House of Broken Bricks

The House of Broken Bricks is a sad and beautiful story about the cracks in the lives of the Hembrys, a mixed-race family in rural Somerset. It’s a family of four in a difficult situation and it seems like it’s going to break them. But maybe there is still a chance that they can somehow find their way back to each other?

more...

Olufunke Grace Bankole
The Edge of Water

Why are there connections between the well-being of the people in New Orleans and Ibadan? How is the destructive hurricane in one place connected to the drying up river in the other? In Olufunke Grace Bankole’s sad and beautiful debut novel The Edge of Water, this is due to a disregarded prophecy.

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Anita Desai
Rosarita

Rosarita, Desai’s newest novel, is the story of Bonita, a young Indian woman from New Delhi who has come to San Miguel, Mexico for Spanish immersion courses. One day in the Jardín, she is confronted by the woman Vicky who becomes The Stranger and later, The Trickster. The Stranger claims to have known Bonita’s mother, Sunita. Except, The Stranger calls her Rosarita. Rosarita, insists The Stranger, was once a great artist who had travelled from India to learn from the great painters of Mexico.

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Essays

Interview

“People are read differently depending on where they are”: A conversation with Raphaëlle Red on the principle of the road novel

Raphaëlle Red is an author currently living in Berlin who writes in French, German and English. She is also doing her PhD on literature in the African diaspora. We had the pleasure of speaking with her about her French-language debut novel Adikou, its protagonist’s journey and its context from one language to the next. The German translation of the novel by Patricia Klobusiczky  was published in September 2024 by Rowohlt Verlag.

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Listicle

Black German-Language Fiction

Black German literature has a long history and it ranges from poetry and autobiographies to academic and activist writings. Yet even today, Black German authors are still less visible, especially when it comes to fiction. So, here is a list of our favorite Black German-language fiction.

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5 books set in London

London is a favourite setting in literature: a lot has happened there historically, it is a cultural stronghold and numerous social problems can be discussed. Here are 5 excellent London novels to prove it.

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News

We are publishing a book: Macht Sprache. Ein Manifest für mehr Gerechtigkeit

Anna von Rath and Lucy Gasser co-founded poco.lit. and macht.sprache. These projects involved a lot of research, conversations with experts, workshops and inputs for different target audiences. Many of the discussions and learnings can soon be found in their book Macht Sprache. Ein Manifest für mehr Gerechtigkeit. The book will be published on September 26, 2024.

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Events