7 Books Published by Flipped Eye Publishing on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

What elevates teaching my mother how to give birth, what gives the poems their disturbing brilliance, is Warsan Shire’s ability to give simple, beautiful eloquence to the veiled world where sensuality lives in the dominant narrative of Islam; reclaiming the more nuanced truths of earlier times - as in Tayeb Salih’s work - and translating to the realm of lyric the work of the likes of Nawal El Saadawi. As Rumi said, "Love will find its way through all languages on its own"; in ’teaching my mother how to give birth’, Warsan’s début pamphlet, we witness the unearthing of a poet who finds her way through all preconceptions to strike the heart directly. Warsan Shire is a Kenyan-born Somali poet and writer who is based in London. Born in 1988, she is an artist and activist who uses her work to document narratives of journey and trauma. Warsan has read her work internationally, including recent readings in South Africa, Italy and Germany, and her poetry has been translated into Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Somebody has to tell the truth sometime, whatever that truth may be. In this, her début full collection, Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie offers up a body of work that bears its scars proudly, firm in the knowledge that each is evidence of a wound survived. These are songs of life in all its violent difficulty and beauty; songs of fury, songs of love. ’Karma’s Footsteps’ brims with things that must be said and turns the volume up, loud, giving silence its last rites. "Ekere Tallie’s new work ’Karma’s Footsteps’ is as fierce with fight songs as it is with love songs. Searing with truths from the modern day world she is unafraid of the twelve foot waves that such honesties always manifest. A poet who "refuses to tiptoe" she enters and exits the page sometimes with short concise imagery, sometimes in the arms of delicate memoir. Her words pull the forgotten among us back into the lightning of our eyes." -Nikky Finney

Click Here to download your free copy of Mother Nature (PDF File)

“I wrote the booklet “Mother Nature” because I wanted to have an honest dialogue with new and expectant mothers. There are some great books out about childbirth, breastfeeding and babywearing. While I do share my experiences with all of these things in this booklet, I really wanted to get into some of the more uncomfortable things new Mamas face that no one really warns us about.

I wanted to explore some of the major shifts our identities go through when we become mothers. Some of the emotions I experienced as a new mother came as a huge surprise to me. But when I talked openly with other new moms, I discovered that what I was feeling was not unusual. The unusual thing was talking about it. I wrote this booklet to share what I’ve learned during my pregnancies and my 6 years of being a Mama. It’s what I wish someone had sat me down and told me.

Originally I was selling the booklet for $8. That was cool. I had two small print runs and sold all the books. But I imagined this booklet in the hands of many more mothers. So I’ve decided to distribute the online version (pdf) of the booklet for free under a Creative Commons license. Click here to download the online booklet for free. If you want to order a signed copy you can still buy a print booklet here.” —Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie  

Truth Thomas’ second collection ’Bottle of Life’ is an oeuvre of multiple layers that straddles the immense cavern of human experience. Awash with startling imagery and word play, it chronicles childhood memories in Washington DC with as much verve as it explores the motivations for America’s involvement in Afghanistan; it draws our eyes to accidents on the street and the common bend in our backs when we are fishing. And then there is music; Marvin Gaye, Celia Cruz and Michael Jackson break lines across the pages as families break bread in communion. At its core, ’Bottle of Life’ is celebration of the sanctity and fragility of life and reaffirms Thomas’ arrival as a major new voice in American poetry - a very necessary one.

Truth Thomas’ audacious first pamphlet, Party of Black, not only introduced us to his eloquent, politically-charged voice, but also to a new poetic form of his own invention - the Skinny. In A Day of Presence, his first full collection, he deals with love - for the streets he was raised in, for his people, for womankind - and claims recognition and respect for African Americans, who have been present since, and contributed to, the birth of America as we know it. Sophisticated, confident in tone and daring in form, A Day of Presence announces the arrival of a major voice in American poetry, and a very necessary one.

Aims to pull into focus the author’s keen awareness of the world around him, his humour, insight and humanity. This work also shows a deep appreciation of the history of poetry and its forms and unveils a form of the author’s own making - The Skinny.

The anthology, Dance the Guns to Silence celebrates the life, struggles and achievements of Nigerian writer and activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa with 100 poems from internationally known and award winning poets and laureates across the globe. The title, Dance the Guns to Silence is taken from one of Saro-Wiwa’s own poems, ‘Dance’, with a foreword written by Ken Wiwa, Ken Saro-Wiwa’s son and editorial advisory from the renowned Malawian poet, now living in exile in Britain, Jack Mapanje. The anthology features contributions from leading world poets as well as emerging poets from all over the world, including, Amiri Baraka, Kamau Brathwaite, Jayne Cortez, Fred D’Aguiar, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Benjamin Zephaniah, Niyi Osundare, Helon Habila, Chris Abani, Syl Cheney Coker, Chenjerai Hove, Lemn Sissay, Moniza Alvi, Sarah Maguire, Pascale Petit, Nathalie Handal, Martin Espada and Kwame Dawes. With poems from Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Mexico, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Canada, the collection, edited by Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Kadija Sesay has a number of poems translated from Bangla, Italian, Catalan and Castillian.