2 Books Published by Phoneme Media on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

A poetry book from one of Deep Vellum’s best-selling novelists, The River in the Belly will be a necessary part of reading lists and literature syllabi regarding the African continent, the European imaginary of Africa, colonization, and writers in exile. Translated by J. Bret Maney.

When Nyamugari, an adolescent mute, attempts to ask a young woman in rural Burundi for directions to an appropriate place to relieve himself, his gestures are mistaken as premeditation for rape. To the young woman’s community, his fleeing confirms his guilt, setting off a chain reaction of pursuit, mob justice, and Nyamugari’s attempts at explanation. Young Burundian novelist Roland Rugero’s second novel Baho!, the first Burundian novel to ever be translated into English, explores the concepts of miscommunication and justice against the backdrop of war-torn Burundi’s beautiful green hillsides.