Poetry. Cross-Genre. Literary Nonfiction. Memoir. South Asian Studies. African Studies. The U.S. debut of internationally acclaimed poet and performance artist Shailja Patel, MIGRITUDE is a tour-de-force hybrid text that confounds categories and conventions. Part poetic memoir, part political history, MIGRITUDE weaves together family history, reportage and monologues to create an achingly beautiful portrait of women's lives and migrant journeys undertaken under the boot print of Empire. "Illuminates with artistry and eloquence the shameful secrets of empire's history"—Howard Zinn.

Author City: BERKELEY, CA USA

Shailja Patel was born and raised in Kenya, has lived in London and San Francisco, and now divides her time between Nairobi and Berkeley. Trained as a political economist, accountant and yoga teacher, she honed her poetic skills in performances that have received standing ovations on three continents. She has been described by the Gulf Times as "the poetic equivalent of Arundhati Roy" and by CNN as "the face of globalization as a people-centered phenomenon of migration and exchange". Patel has appeared on the BBC World Service, NPR and Al-Jazeera. Her work has been translated into twelve languages. She is a recipient of a Sundance Theatre Fellowship, an African Guest Writer Fellowship from the Nordic Africa Institute, the Fanny-Ann Eddy Poetry Award from IRN-Africa, the Voices of Our Nations Poetry Award, a Lambda Slam Championship, and the Outwrite Poetry Prize.

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