Safiya Sinclair was born and raised in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She is the author of Cannibal, winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Metcalf Award in Literature, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Poetry, and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry. Cannibal was selected as one of the American Library Association’s Notable Books of the Year, was a finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award and the Seamus Heaney First Book Award in the UK, and was longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, The Nation, Poetry and elsewhere. She is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Arizona State University.
‘A narrative marvel … To read it is to believe that words can save, words can heal, and words can imbue us with near divine power’ Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings ‘Unforgettable, mesmerising, heartbreaking and heartwarming at once, this is one of the best memoirs in world literature’ Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees ‘Sinclair's lush, lyrical language makes everything feel alive. Here, words are a thing of beauty and a means of escape’ Raven Leilani, author of Luster ‘Full of courage and poetry … an instant contemporary Caribbean classic. Read this book for its elemental, non-negotiable self; fire and love’ Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch ‘Atmospheric and completely absorbing, this is a fascinating story lushly told … Captivating’ Diana Evans, author of A House for Alice ‘Essential … Sinclair’s devotion to language has been lifelong, and How to Say Babylon is the result’ Jesmyn Ward, author of Sing, Unburied, Sing ‘Gut-wrenching, soul-stirring, electrifying’ Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun ‘Immersive, imagistic, honest … A quiet testimony, a loud prayer and a large gift from a gifted Jamaican voice’ Raymond Antrobus, author of All the Names Given ‘Destined to become a feminist classic’ Lisa Allen-Agostini, author of The Bread the Devil Knead ‘Heart-warming, tender and fierce, one of the best memoirs I've read in a long time’ Lily Dunn, author of Sins of My Father ‘Beautifully rendered and an incredible story … A tour de force’ Natasha Trethewey, author of Memorial Drive ‘A story with radiant transformative power. I couldn’t put it down’ Nadia Osuwu, author of Aftershocks ‘Every sentence sings … Simply stunning’ Imani Perry, author of South to America ‘Dazzling’ Publishers Weekly