Who Needs a Story?

Book excerpt: Poetry. African American Studies. The first anthology ever published of poetry from Eritrea written in Tigrinya, Tigre and Arabic, WHO NEEDS A STORY? contains English translations and the originals of thirty-six poems by twenty-two poets over roughly the last three decades. The way that contemporary Eastern European poets were first read widely in the 1970s and South American poets in the 1960s--without whose influence contemporary poetry in English and most languages is unimaginable--now is the time for African language poets to be similarly heard, with Eritrean poets as part of the vanguard. "For at least four thousand years--from the ancient stele in Belew Kelew to the 20th century battlefields of Eritrea's heroic struggle for independence--and into the 21st century, Eritrean poets have never given up writing in their own languages, which is why their poetry thrives. WHO NEEDS A STORY? translates this remarkable legacy"--Ngugi wa Thiong'o.