Cultural/Regional

Lagoon, Nnedi Okorafor

This is about Nigeria. Lagos Nigeria. It is about the people who live there and the culture and language that has arisen there from time immemorial, being created, generation after generation, as the evolution of any group. It is about the sea, about the animals and creatures, great and small, […]

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She Would Be King, Wayétu Moore

Animals have inspired some of the most memorable moments in African storytelling. In 17th century Ethiopia, Galawdewos repeatedly relies on the appearance or the death of animals to portray Walatta Petros’ miraculous saintly power. When animals are incorporated in ritual process, the visual effect is powerful. The image of Ozidi […]

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No Entry

Author: © Gila Green Publisher/pre-order: Stormbird Press Publication Date: September 17, 2019 Social Media: Author blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Back to the Dragonfly Library Book blurb: Broken-hearted after losing her only brother in a terrorist attack, 17-year-old Yael Amar seeks solace on an elephant conservation program in South Africa’s Kruger […]

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The Old Axolotl: Hardware Dreams, Jacek Dukaj

The Old Axolotl is an exhilarating post-apocalyptic tale about a world in which a cosmic catastrophe has sterilized the Earth of all living things. Only a small number of humans have managed to copy digitalized versions of their minds onto hardware in the nick of time. Deprived of physical bodies, […]

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War Girls, Tochi Onyebuchi

The year is 2172. Climate change and nuclear disasters have rendered much of earth unlivable. Only the lucky ones have escaped to space colonies in the sky.  In a war-torn Nigeria, battles are fought using flying, deadly mechs and soldiers are outfitted with bionic limbs and artificial organs meant to […]

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Règne Animale, Jean-Baptiste Del Amo

There’s a host of discussions about climate change, land and animals, including French literary big-hitter Jean-Baptiste del Amo whose novel Animalia transports us to life in a pigsty. –Bogotá Post Jean-Baptiste Del Amo: dopo Céline e Houellebecq la Francia celebra il suo nuovo grande scrittore apocalittico, duro, violento… Una voce […]

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Empire of the Wild, Cherie Dimaline

From the author of the YA-crossover hit The Marrow Thieves, a propulsive, stunning and sensuous novel inspired by the traditional Métis story of the Rogarou–a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of Métis communities. A messed-up, grown-up, Little Red Riding Hood. -Goodreads Goodreads Reviews Back to Goodreads

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The Orchardist’s Daughter, Karen Viggers

The theme of conservation runs strong in all four of Karen Vigger’s works. She trained as a domestic and wildlife veterinarian and loves the great outdoors. This strong attachment to nature appeals to her readers across the world. –rFI Set in the old-growth eucalypt forests and vast rugged mountains of […]

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The Forbidden Place, Susanne Jansson

A book, television show, or movie set somewhere in Scandinavia leads the reader or viewer to expect dark, foreboding landscapes and ominous, threatening events. Susanne Jansson’s sparkling debut novel The Forbidden Place fulfills these expectations in a myriad of absorbing ways. –Run Spot Run In the remote Swedish wetlands lies […]

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Mary Knight’s Saving Wonder, Review by Kimberly Christensen

Saving Wonder by Mary Knight Hardcover, 288 pages Published February 23rd, 2016, by Scholastic Review by Kimberly Christensen Curley Hines and his grandpa love their mountains and their way of life, even though mining accidents that happened on the mountains claimed the lives of their family members. Still, most everyone […]

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The Blind Earthworm in the Labyrinth, Veeraporn Nitiprapha

The Blind Earthworm in the Labyrinth, which won the South East Asian Writers Award for the original Thai edition, is also lush with characters — and foliage and fauna. In Veeraporn’s telling, the Thai capital doesn’t unfold, as in Pitchaya’s plaited tale, but explode. –The New York Times Goodreads Reviews […]

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Bangkok Wakes to Rain, Pitchaya Sudbanthad

Recreates the experience of living in Thailand’s aqueous climate so viscerally that you can feel the water rising around your ankles. -Ron Charles, Washington Post Goodreads Reviews Back to Goodreads

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To Follow Elephants, Rick Hodges

Click here to return to the series In today’s world series, we travel back to the continent of Africa, this time with author Rick Hodges; we talk about his visits to Kenya and his new novel To Follow Elephants (Stormbird Press, March 2019). Stick around, because this summer we will […]

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Oil on Water, Helon Habila

Habila’s spare but vivid prose takes the reader from the tenements of the working poor to the mansions of oil executives, from the camps of armed militants to peaceful, quasi-monastic communities devoted to the worship of nature gods. But as diverse as Nigeria is, the entire country has one common, […]

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The Hungry Tide, Amitav Ghosh

The Hungry Tide was published in 2004 but is still getting accolades in the media and has celebrated many reprints since. The Hungry Tide is a very contemporary story of adventure and unlikely love, identity and history, set in one of the most fascinating regions on the earth. Off the easternmost […]

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