{"product_id":"the-years-of-blood-paperback","title":"The Years of Blood - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAdedayo Agarau\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the 2023-24 Poetic Justice Institute Editors Prize for a BIPOC Writer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISELE MAGAZINE EDITOR'S CHOICE: 25 MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2025\u003cbr\u003e THE MODACULTURE 10 ANTICIPATED AFRICAN BOOKS OF 2025\u003cbr\u003e OPEN COUNTRY MAGAZINE ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2025\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this unflinching debut collection, Adedayo Agarau confronts the harrowing reality of ritual killings and child abductions that have terrorized Nigeria from the turbulent pre-democratic era to the present day. Set against the backdrop of rural Ibadan, \u003ci\u003eThe Years of Blood \u003c\/i\u003eplunges readers into the depths of collective trauma where \"memory forsakes the body at the point where fear fills the body like air.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThese poems bear witness to unspeakable atrocities through dreamlike landscapes and surreal imagery that resist rational explanation. Memory is as vital as it is ungraspable. As the painful poem \"the abduction\" puts it, \"memory forsakes the body at the point where fear fills the body like air.\" Or, in \"Lilac,\" where \"the debris of memory \/ becomes the fog before you.\" Agarau's lyrical language--at once rich and broken--captures both the violence witnessed and the guilt of survival through repetitions of words, phrases, and motifs. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs both survivor and émigré to the US, Agarau explores \"the weight of disappearance [that] hangs heavy over memory,\" the ongoing trauma that cannot be shed, and the search for healing across continents. His poems attempt to wrest language out of terror's domain, asking: \"How many ways can the poet craft an elegy?\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAbove and beyond its art, \u003ci\u003eThe Years of Blood \u003c\/i\u003eis essential reading for those interested in African literature, postcolonial studies, and the intersection of personal and political history and global literature. In its unyielding approach to its subject matter, this volume is a crucial interlocutor to conversations on trauma, grief, loss, absence, migration, loneliness, and African spiritualism. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor readers of Ilya Kaminsky, Safia Elhillo, Ocean Vuong, and Claudia Rankine, this collection speaks to both specific cultural realities and universal human experiences through poetry that refuses easy consolation.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eADEDAYO AGARAU \u003c\/b\u003eis a Wallace Stegner Fellow '25, a Cave Canem Fellow, and a 2024 Ruth Lilly- Rosenberg Fellowship finalist. He is the Editor-in-Chief of \u003ci\u003eAgbowó Magazine: A Journal of African Literature and Art \u003c\/i\u003eand a Poetry Reviews Editor for \u003ci\u003eThe Rumpus\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the author of the chapbooks \u003ci\u003eOrigin of Name \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Arrival of Rain\u003c\/i\u003e. For more information, visit http: \/\/www.adedayoagarau.com\/.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 96\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.4 x 7.7 x 5.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 02, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51984051634477,"sku":"9781531511616","price":20.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/l4dhc_YTU09781531511616.webp?v=1776081623","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/the-years-of-blood-paperback","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}