Anos Ku Ta Manda

By Yasmina Nuny

Yasmina Nuny's debut, Anos Ku Ta Manda, is as fresh and vital as her performance style. She writes both in English and Kriol, her mother tongue, to portray plural and untranslatable existences. Her collection – so powerful – begins with an exploration of her country Guinea-Bissau, that remains accessible through language and family. Following this welcome into her home, Yasmina offers a more intimate reading of her musings and experiences of love and relationships. The final voice that we find in the collection is a political one, exploring both the trauma and joys of Black womanhood. Anos Ku Ta Manda is defiant and the experiences it explores are informed by Yasmina's relationship with God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Verve Poetry Press
• Release date: Mar 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781912565962

Book preview

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yasmina Nuny is a poet from Guinea-Bissau. She was born in Portugal and raised in different African countries before moving to the UK for her studies.

She began performing in 2016 at open mic events around Birmingham and owes a lot to the second city for her development as an artist. She has since been featured at events like Heaux Noire (London), Funkenteleky (Birmingham) and the Verve Poetry Festival R.A.P. Party (Birmingham).

Yasmina has also had her poetry published in two other Verve collections, including The Poetry Jam Anthology Wild Dreams & Louder Voices (2018) and Nafeesa Hamid’s Besharam (2018).

Twitter: @yasmeeener

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yasminanuny

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PUBLISHED BY VERVE POETRY PRESS

Birmingham, West Midlands, UK

www.vervepoetrypress.com

[e-mail]

All rights reserved

© 2019 Yasmina Nuny

The right of Yasmina Nuny to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

No part of this work may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, recorded or mechanical, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

FIRST PUBLISHED MAR 2019

Printed and bound in the UK

by Imprint Digital, Exeter

ISBN: 978-1-912565-19-1

ePub ISBN: 978-1-912565-96-2

Cover Image Design by Patricia Bandora

Garandi k jungutu

Ta ma oja lunju

di ke mininu k sikidu.

Noh kontinua bata garandi son.

CONTENTS

Part One - Ami

Haikus

Gazing

Directions for a journey home

Bissau bedju

Self

Nha retaguarda

Bariga

Bissau Daily

Part Two - Kerensa

Haikus

The voicemail I would include in my mixtape of only ballads

Staying soft

Transatlantic love

Lessons on love as explored by the cast of the best television series out there

Grey

Underneath guiding lights and hidden from cold places

Tongue twister

Imagine love

Part Three - Libri

Haikus

Free

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A BLACK woman walks into