On Sale (US) October 3, 2023
PREORDER:
How to Say Babylon is a Most Anticipated book by: The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Elle, The San Francisco Chronicle, BookPage, Goodreads, The Millions, and Lit Hub
★“More than catharsis; this is memoir as liberation.”
–Kirkus Starred Review
★“This is a tour de force.”
–Publishers Weekly Starred Review
★“A radiant story of family and self-discovery told through the sharp eye of a talented poet.”
–Booklist Starred Review
“Dazzling. Potent. Vital. A light shining on the path of self-deliverance.”
—Tara Westover, author of Educated
“a narrative marvel”
—Marlon James, winner of the Man Booker Prize
“An essential memoir. This book is lit from the inside by Sinclair’s determination to learn and live freely, and to see her beloveds freed, too.”
— Jesmyn Ward, author of Let Us Descend
“gut-wrenching, soul-stirring, electrifying”
—Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun and Patsy
“Simply stunning.”
—Imani Perry, author of South to America, Winner of the National Book Award
“a gifted and poetic voice whose lyrical story of personal reclaiming will inspire generations.”
—Tembi Locke, author of From Scratch
“a tour de force”
—Natasha Trethewey, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet and author of Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir
“a daughter’s lyric, a love letter, a rebellion, and an incantation”
—Nadia Owusu, author of Aftershocks
“Her words sparkle like silver or pour like lava, depending on the need.”
—Jabari Asim, author of Yonder, a New York Times Notable Book
“[An] exquisitely courageous memoir”
—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree
On Sale (UK) Oct 3, 2023
PRE-ORDER:
How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author’s struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father’s strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet.
THE NEW YORKER:
How to Say Babylon excerpt: Revisiting My Rastafari Childhood
Babylon was everything forbidden, and looming all around us—and my father tried to protect us from it at all costs.
Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Safiya Sinclair was born and raised in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She is the author of the memoir How to Say Babylon, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography, a finalist the Kirkus Prize, and longlisted for the Women’s Prize in Non-Fiction, and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. How to Say Babylon was named one of the 100 Notable Books of the year by the New York Times, a Top 10 Book of 2023 by the Washington Post, one of The Atlantic’s 10 Best Books of 2023, a TIME Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book of 2023, a Read with Jenna/TODAY Show Book Club pick, and one of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2023. How to Say Babylon was also named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, NPR, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, Vulture, Harper’s Bazaar, and Barnes & Noble, among others, and was an ALA Notable Book of the Year. The audiobook of How to Say Babylon was named a Best Audiobook of the Year by Audible and AudioFile magazine. Sinclair is also the author of the poetry collection Cannibal, winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Metcalf Award, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Poetry, and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry.