Poetry
Aulò. Canto-poesia dall'Eritrea
Not translated into English
Ribka Sibhatu · 1993
Synopsis
A collection of lyric poems and prose poems, written first in Tigrinya then translated into Italian by the author, in a bilingual edition. In it she takes up the aulò, an oral poetic form of Eritrea recited at weddings and funerals, to tell, as a woman, stories of ordinary people and to reflect on her life in Eritrea and on her experience as a migrant; proverbs and traditional songs are added to them.
Context
Published in 1993 by Sinnos, in the I Mappamondi series, the book is described by the University of London's centre for the study of women's writing as a complex autobiographical work, on identity, freedom and exile. The author then published an essay on immigration in the Italian media and, in 2012, a book drawn from the traditions of the Eritrean highlands, L'esatto numero delle stelle.
Who it is for
For discovering a poetry of a woman and a migrant, nourished by the Eritrean oral tradition.
Prizes and reception
Sasha Dugdale, former editor of Modern Poetry in Translation, sees her as an essential activist poet of our time.