I Come from A Country
SynopsisPlot
Tijan M. Sallah's poems range in a broad sweep from local minutiae to the politics of the airborne. They speak directly about the hopes and despairs not just of Africa and its people, but of people everywhere. His imagination perceives the transformations inherent in daily experience. He is clearly an important poet. --George Szirtes, Poet/Writer, and Winner of T.S. Eliot Prize and James Tait Black Prize "I might speak at length of the enjoyment and wisdom I found in Tijan M. Sal la h's poems. His poems express different feelings held in steady focus by an unrelenting sense of purpose. Many poetry volumes glow with light; I Come From a Country is a beacon. --Fred Chappell, Poet/Writer, Winner of the Bollingen Prize and T.S. Eliot Award for Creative Writing
Story
About this book
I Come from A Country is a poetry collection by Tijan M. Sallah, a Gambian writer whose work draws on both the specific textures of life in The Gambia and broader human concerns. The poems move between close observation of everyday scenes and wider reflections on political and social realities across Africa and beyond. Sallah writes with a steady, purposeful voice, finding moments of change and meaning inside ordinary experience.
The collection has received praise from notable poets. George Szirtes, a recipient of the T.S. Eliot Prize and the James Tait Black Prize, described Sallah as an important poet whose imagination captures the transformations present in daily life. Fred Chappell, winner of the Bollingen Prize and the T.S. Eliot Award for Creative Writing, highlighted the sense of purpose running through the poems and called the volume a beacon.
The Gambia, one of the smallest countries on the African continent, follows the course of the Gambia River inland from the Atlantic coast. Sallah's title frames the collection around a sense of place and belonging, grounding even his most far-reaching poems in a specific point of origin. The book was published under ISBN 978-1569027646.
