Showcase: The Wizard of the Kremlin a novel by Giuliano Da Empoli

Today I'm showcasing a novel based on Putin's regime a recent release from fave indie, Other Press
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-395-2
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 11-7-2023
Length: 304pp
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Overview:

Filled with real political insight and intrigue, this thrilling novel explores the nature of power through the inner workings of Putin’s regime.

Known as the “Wizard of the Kremlin,” the enigmatic Vadim Baranov was a TV producer before becoming a political advisor to Putin, aka “The Czar.” After his resignation from this position, legends about him multiply, with no one able to distinguish truth from fiction. Until one night, when he tells his story to the narrator of this book…

He immerses us in the heart of the Russian state, where sycophants and oligarchs have been engaging in open warfare, and where Vadim, now the regime’s main spin doctor, turns an entire country into an avant-garde political stage. Yet Vadim is not as ambitious as the others. Entangled in the increasingly dark secrets of the regime he has helped create, he will do anything to get out, guided by the memory of his grandfather, an eccentric aristocrat who survived the Revolution, and the mesmerizing, merciless Ksenia, whom he has fallen in love with.

Giuliano da Empoli, once a senior advisor to Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, draws on his experience behind the scenes to create an authentic, compelling portrait of power and how it corrupts.

Showcase Demoiselles of Numidia a Novel by Mohamed Leftah

Today I'm happy to bring you the latest novel by acclaimed Moroccan author Mohamed Leftah to be translated into English posthumously and released just today by my favorite indie publishers Other Press.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-066-1
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 06-06-2023
Length: 208pp

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Overview:

The acclaimed Moroccan author’s debut novel, this stunning portrait of the world of sex work describes its sordid reality with beautiful, poetic prose.

Available now for the first time in English, Demoiselles of Numidia offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of young women working in a Casablanca brothel—their relationships with each other and with their pimps, their dramas, and the rare moments of happiness that bloom in this violent underbelly.

Originally published in French in 1992, the novel quickly established Mohamed Leftah as one of Morocco’s great writers. It showcases the extraordinary combination of elegant language and graphic physicality, as well as the nuanced questioning of traditional gender roles, which would come to characterize his works.

Showcase: South A Novel by Mario Fortunato

Today I'm showcasing South A Novel by Mario Fortunato another fab new release from my favorite indie Other Press.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13:  978-1-63542-204-7
Publisher: OtherPress
Release Date: 05-16-2023
Length: 384pp
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Overview:

Through the loves and losses of a middle-class family from Calabria, this heady, atmospheric saga retraces the history of twentieth-century Italy.

As a young man in the Seventies, Valentino leaves home in search of a better life. With age, he begins to feel an intense regret, a longing for the world and the people he left behind, which he might not be able to recover, even after returning.
Set in Magna Graecia, the sun-drenched land where ancient Greeks stopped in their travels and happily settled, now full of ruins, South takes us back to a time when notaries and lawyers were undiscussed authorities in small towns. Meet the Notaio, his lover Magda, a Polish countess and a spy, and delve into their love story in Naples; meet the Farmacista, owner of the first chemist’s shop in town, his wife Lea, and their children; follow the paths where these lives cross, and Tamara, Mara for short, marries into the Notaio’s family; get to know charming Uncle Giorgio, an extravagant loner, owner of two small Gauguins, and Gioacchino, the house ghost.
Servants, drivers, peasants fully devoted and bound to their masters enliven this tale of love and loss, war and peace, politics and power, told in an elegant, affecting prose that transports us through time and space.

Showcase: An Honorable Exit by by ÉRIC VUILLARD Translated by MARK POLIZZOTTI

Today I'm showcasing An Honorable Exit Eric Vuillard's examination of what precipitated the first Indochina War
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-352-5
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 04-25-2025
Length: 160pp
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Overview

From the award-winning author of The Order of the Day, a piercing account of the lesser-known conflict preceding the Vietnam War that dealt a fatal blow to French colonialism.

How can a modern army lose to an army of peasants?

Delving into the last gasps of the First Indochina War (1946–1954), which saw the communist Việt Minh take control of North Vietnam, Éric Vuillard vividly illustrates the attitudes that both enabled French colonialist abuses and ultimately led to their defeat and withdrawal. From the Michelin rubber plantation, where horrific working conditions sparked an epidemic of suicides, to the battlefield, a sense of superiority over the “yellow men” pervaded European and American forces. And, as with so many conflicts throughout history, there were key actors with a motivation deeper than nationalism or political ideology—greed.
An Honorable Exit not only brings to life scenes from the war, but also looks beyond the visceral reality on the ground to the colder calculations of those who seek to benefit from conflict, whether shrewd bankers, who can turn a military win or loss into financial gain, or intelligence operatives like the CIA, who aim to influence governments across the globe.

Showcase: We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I by Raja Shehadeh

Today I'm featuring a new release from my favorite Indie, Other Press, read on to learn more about a fascinating memoir, We Could Have Been Friends by Raja Shehadeh.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-364-8
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 03-28-2023
Length: 160pp
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Overview:

A subtle psychological portrait of the author’s relationship with his father during the twentieth-century battle for Palestinian human rights.

Aziz Shehadeh was many things: lawyer, activist, and political detainee, he was also the father of bestselling author and activist Raja. In this new and searingly personal memoir, Raja Shehadeh unpicks the snags and complexities of their relationship.

A vocal and fearless opponent, Aziz resists under the British mandatory period, then under Jordan, and, finally, under Israel. As a young man, Raja fails to recognize his father’s courage and, in turn, his father does not appreciate Raja’s own efforts in campaigning for Palestinian human rights. When Aziz is murdered in 1985, it changes Raja irrevocably.

This is not only the story of the battle against the various oppressors of the Palestinians, but a moving portrait of a particular father and son relationship.

Showcase: As We Exist: A Postcolonial Autobiography by KAOUTAR HARCHI Translated by EMMA RAMADAN

Today I'm showcasing yet another fabulous new release from fave indie Other Press, As We Exist is a birds eye view of what it means to be an immigrant in a new culture, in this case a Moroccan families experience in France.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13:  978-1-63542-284-9
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 03-14-2023
Length: 176pp
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Overview:

In this thoughtful coming-of-age memoir, a young sociologist reflects on her Moroccan immigrant parents, their journey to France, and how growing up an outsider shaped her identity.

Imbued with tenderness for her family and a critical view of the challenges facing French North African immigrants, Kaoutar Harchi’s probing account illustrates the deeply personal effects of political issues. Mixed with happy memories of her childhood home in eastern France are ever-present reminders of the dangers from which her parents sought to shield her. When they transfer her to a private, Catholic middle school—out of fear of Arab boys from their working-class neighborhood—Kaoutar grows increasingly conscious of her differences, and her conflicted sense of self.
Notable events in her teens—the passing of a law in 2004 banning religious symbols from public schools; the 2005 deaths of Bouna Traoré and Zyed Benna, which sparked riots against police brutality—underscore the injustice of a society that sees Muslims not as equals but as a problem to solve. With elegant, affecting prose, As We Exist charts Kaoutar’s political and intellectual awakening, which would become the heart and soul of her work as a sociologist and writer.

Showcase - In the Belly of the Congo A Novel by BLAISE NDALA Translated by AMY B. REID an Other Press release

Today I'm showcasing In the Belly of the Congo by Blaise Ndala  "A gripping multigenerational novel that explores the history and human cost of colonialism in the Congo."
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-258-0
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 02-07-2023
Length: 432pp
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Overview:

April 1958. Organizing the Brussels World’s Fair, the biggest international event since the end of the Second World War, subcommissioner Robert Dumont cedes to pressure from the royal palace: there will be a “Congolese village” in one of the seven pavilions devoted to the settlements. Among the eleven members of this “human zoo” assembled to put on a show at the foot of the Atomium is the young Tshala, daughter of the intractable king of the Bakuba. From her native Kasai to Brussels via Léopoldville, the princess’s journey unfolds—until her forced exhibition at Expo 58, where we lose track of her.
Summer 2004. Newly arrived in Belgium, a niece of the missing princess crosses paths with a man haunted by the ghost of his father—Francis Dumont, professor of law at the Free University of Brussels. A breathtaking series of events will reveal to them a secret the former subcommissioner of Expo 58 carried to his grave.
From one century to the next, In the Belly of the Congo confronts History with a capital “H” to pose the central question of the colonial equation: Can the past pass?

Showcase- Big Man and the Little Men (A Graphic Novel) by Clifford Thompson

Today I'm showcasing Big Man and the Little Men a brand new release from my very favorite literary Indie publisher, Other Press.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-200-9
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 11-22-2022
Length: 96pp
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Overview:
A writer navigates shady—and potentially deadly—political campaigns in this vibrant graphic novel about unconscious bias and how the cynical exploit it.

April Wells, a celebrated African-American memoirist and essayist, lands a writing assignment unlike any she has had before: covering the presidential campaign of the presumptive Democratic nominee, William Waters, for a high-profile magazine. Waters, a well-spoken progressive with lofty ideals of unity in diversity, faces the polar opposite in his Republican challenger, the anti-intellectual, narcissistic Lee Newsome, who seeks to gain power by sowing division. Ahead of the Democratic National Convention, to be held in April’s hometown, Waters must also contend with a potential Achilles’ heel: persistent rumors that he has cheated on his wife with young male staffers.
At first excited about the assignment, April sometimes feels out of her depth and wonders why she was chosen instead of a veteran journalist. When a woman contacts her accusing Waters of sexual assault, April is torn: should she do her job and report this? Or should she sit on it, in case the damage to Waters’s reputation would help Newsome win the presidency?
Events soon spiral out of control, and April, feeling that her life may be in danger but mistrusting the police and the FBI, thinks of one person she can count on: the Big Man, a longtime friend from her hometown, now its mayor. Along with his stalwart crew of Little Men, they set out to unravel a gripping mystery that goes all the way to the top.

Showcase - Sentimental Economy by by EDOARDO NESI Translated by ANTONY SHUGAAR

Today I'm showcasing Sentimental Economy by Edoardo Nesi a multi award winning author and filmmaker translated from his native Italian into English and yet another fantastic new release from favorite indie of eclectic imports, Other Press.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-214-6
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 08-09-2022
Length: 224pp
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Overview

In a warm, perceptive essay that touches on economics, fashion, literature, and politics, the Strega Prize–winning author of Story of My People reflects on the seismic shifts of 2020 and the diverse ways we’re adapting.

Attempting to make sense of the incredible upheaval of 2020—from the devastating impact of COVID-19 to the sudden loss of his father—Edoardo Nesi considers the changing global economy and its effect on our lives. He shares the stories of Alberto Magelli, a small textile entrepreneur; Livia Firth, a prominent advocate for sustainability; Elisa Martelli, a young Sangiovese winemaker; Enrico Giovannini, a leading economist and statistician; Rino Pratesi, a proud butcher from the heart of Tuscany; and more.

From the overworked to the unemployed, we’re all grappling with difficult questions about our current disorienting world: Will we ever feel healthy again, and what will it take to regain “normality?” What does progress mean today? Have science and technology let us down? What will the increased prevalence of remote working mean for our cities, and for our lifestyles generally? Deftly weaving together the personal and the economic, Nesi takes us on a fascinating journey to understanding.

Showcase - The Last Island A Novel by ZÜLFÜ LIVANELI Translated by AYSE A. SAHIN

Today I'm showcasing another fantastic novel translated into English and brought to our shores by my favorite indie Other Press. The Last Island is a political allegory first written in 2008 from the Turkish Internationally bestselling author of Disquiet.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13:  978-1-63542-222-1
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 06-21-2022
Length: 320pp
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Overview:

Having failed to hold onto power after an ironfisted first term, the former President moves to a secluded island and decides to rid it of what he sees as its “anarchic” components. The island, described by its close-knit community as a utopia, the last peaceful resort for humankind, morphs into dystopia when the President, in the hope of bringing order to island life, begins to act more and more like a dictator. The first ones to revolt against him are the seagulls.
Originally written in 2008 as a condemnation of the authoritarian Turkish regime, The Last Island has only grown more relevant, foreshadowing the events and aftermath of Istanbul’s bloody Gezi Park/Taksim Square political protests of 2013, as well as the protest movements of our time.

Showcase - Blown Away: Redefining Life After My Son's Suicide

Today I'm showcasing a very timely book, a memoir from a grieving father. Suicide is rampant in this country right now from distressed teens to returning veterans and everything in between, and unfortunately it seems everyone either personally knows or knows of a victim of suicide.
This book is high on my list and I'm sure once you learn more it will be a high priority for you too!
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-260-3
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 05-31-2022
Length: 320pp
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Overview:

This powerful memoir follows a father’s journey to make sense of his world after losing his son to addiction and suicide.

Fifteen years ago, Richard Boothby received a fateful call from his ex-wife that their twenty-three-year-old son, Oliver, was dead. Although Richard had been dreading this news, given Oliver’s prolonged struggle with drug dependency, nothing could have prepared him for the devastating shock. He became obsessed with uncovering the truth of why Oliver shot himself—had he been self-medicating an undiagnosed mental illness?—and what they could have done to prevent it.
In an attempt to stem the pain, Boothby turned to psychoanalysis. He was no stranger to the concept—as a professor of philosophy, he had focused his career on the intersection between psychoanalytic theory and contemporary philosophy—but this was far from an academic exercise. Through his time in talk therapy, as well as psychedelic experiences in a research study on psilocybin, he would gradually find a sense of acceptance of the unknown, and a renewed appreciation for life.
Exploring the epidemics of substance abuse and gun violence from an intimate perspective, Boothby’s poignant account of grief shows how the death of a loved one can in some ways bring us closer to them and ourselves.

Showcase - CAPTAIN NI’MAT’S LAST BATTLE A Novel by MOHAMED LEFTAH Translated by LARA VERGNAUD

Today I'm showcasing a provocative novel first published in 2008 after the author's death published in the US by my favorite Indie Other Press.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-064-7
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 06-07-2022
Length: 160pp
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Overview:

First published after the author’s death in 2008, this provocative novel charts the late-in-life sexual awakening of a retired air force pilot who begins a dangerous affair with a male servant.

Captain Ni’mat, a reservist from the Egyptian army defeated by the Israelis in 1967, finds himself aging and idle, spending his days at a luxurious private club in Cairo with former comrades. One night, Captain Ni’mat has an exquisite, chilling dream: he sees pure beauty in the form of his Nubian valet. Awakened by these searing images, he slips into the hut where the young man sleeps. The vision of his naked body so deeply disturbs Captain Ni’mat that his monotonous existence is suddenly turned upside down.
Unbeknownst to his wife, he comes to know physical love with his valet. In a country where religious fundamentalism grows increasingly prevalent every day, this forbidden passion will lead him to the height of happiness, at least for a time.

Showcase - Girl, A Novel by Camille Laurens

Today I'm showcasing, Girl, A Novel by French Novelist Camille Laurens an insightful piece of women's fiction that should be read by both sexes. Stop back by soon for my take on the novel.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-101-9
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 4-26-2022
Length: 256pp
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Overview:

From the acclaimed author of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, a deeply personal and insightful account of being a girl, woman, and mother in a world that sees the feminine as less than.

Born in 1959 to a middle-class family, Laurence Barraqué grows up with her sister in the northern city of Rouen. Her father is a doctor, her mother a housewife. She understands from an early age, by way of language and her parents’ example, that a girl’s place in life is inferior to a boy’s: Asked for the 1964 census whether he has any children, her father promptly responds, “No. I have two daughters.” When Laurence eventually becomes a mother herself in the nineties, she grapples with the question of what it means to be a girl, to have a girl, and what lessons she should try to pass down or undo.

Masterful in her analysis of the subtle and obvious ways women are undermined by a sexist society, Camille Laurens lays out her experiences of the past forty years in this poignant, powerful book. Girl is at once intimate and sweeping in its depiction of the great challenges we face, such as equalizing the education system and transmitting feminist values to the younger generations.

Showcase-Age of the Strongman by Gideon Rachman

In light of what's happening in Ukraine, this timely and a bit alarming tale will appeal to anyone interested in the how and why's of  today's global rise of autocratical leaders in the global face of politics. 
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-280-1
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 4-19-2022
Length: 288
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Overview:

From Putin, Trump, and Bolsonaro to Erdoğan, Orbán, and Xi, an intimate look at the rise of strongman leaders around the world.

The first truly global treatment of the new nationalism, underpinned by an exceptional level of access to its key actors, from the award-winning journalist and author of Easternization.

This is the most urgent political story of our time: authoritarian leaders have become a central feature of global politics. Since 2000, self-styled strongmen have risen to power in capitals as diverse as Moscow, Beijing, Delhi, Brasilia, Budapest, Ankara, Riyadh, and Washington. These leaders are nationalists and social conservatives, with little tolerance for minorities, dissent, or the interests of foreigners. At home, they claim to be standing up for ordinary people against globalist elites; abroad, they posture as the embodiments of their nations. And everywhere they go, they encourage a cult of personality. What’s more, these leaders are not just operating in authoritarian political systems but have begun to emerge in the heartlands of liberal democracy.

Gideon Rachman has been in the same room with most of these strongmen and reported from their countries over a long journalistic career. While others have tried to understand their rise individually, Rachman pays full attention to the widespread phenomenon and uncovers the complex and often surprising interaction among these leaders. In the process, he identifies the common themes in our local nightmares, finding global coherence in the chaos and offering a bold new paradigm for navigating our world.

Showcase - School Days by Jonathan Galassi

Today I'm showcasing School Days a novel by poet and essayer Jonathan Galassi.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13:  978-1-63542-189-7
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 04-05-2022
Length: 224pp
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Overview:

The new novel from the acclaimed poet and publisher asks fundamental questions about love and sex, friendship and rivalry, desire and power, and the age-old dance of benevolence and attraction between teacher and student.

Sam Brandt is a long-term denizen of Connecticut’s renowned Leverett School. As an English teacher he has dedicated his life to providing his students with the same challenges, encouragement, and sense of possibility that helped him and his friends become themselves here half a lifetime ago.
Then Leverett’s headmaster asks Sam to help investigate a charge brought by one of his classmates that he was abused by a teacher. Sam is flooded with memories, above all of his overwhelming love for his friend Eddie and the support of his most inspiring mentor, Theodore Gibson.
Sam’s search for the truth becomes a quest to get at the heart of Leverett, then and now. The school has changed enormously over the years, but at its core lie assumptions about privilege and responsibility untested for more than a century. And Sam’s assumptions about his own life are shaken, too, as he struggles to understand what really happened all those years ago.

Showcase - Policing the City An Ethno-graphic by DIDIER FASSIN by FRÉDÉRIC DEBOMY

Today I'm featuring a graphic novel that takes a deep look into policing and how it leads to discrimination and violence. Now just looking at the headline you would automatically think its about the United States, but you'd be wrong this is in 2005 France.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13:  978-1-63542-250-4
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 03-15-2022
Length: 112pp
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Overview:

Adapted from the landmark essay Enforcing Order, this striking graphic novel offers an accessible inside look at policing and how it leads to discrimination and violence.

What we know about the forces of law and order often comes from tragic episodes that make the headlines, or from sensationalized versions for film and television. These gripping accounts obscure two crucial aspects of police work: the tedium of everyday patrols under constant pressure to meet quotas, and the banality of racial discrimination and ordinary violence.
Around the time of the 2005 French riots, anthropologist and sociologist Didier Fassin spent fifteen months observing up close the daily life of an anticrime squad in one of the largest precincts in the Paris region. His unprecedented study, which sparked intense discussion about policing in the largely working-class, immigrant suburbs, remains acutely relevant in light of all-too-common incidents of police brutality against minorities.
This new, powerfully illustrated adaptation clearly presents the insights of Fassin’s investigation, and draws connections to the challenges we face today in the United States as in France.

Showcase - Why Didn't We Riot? A Black Man In Trump Land by By Issac J. Bailey

Today I'm showcasing a book of essays by South Carolina Issac J. Bailey on a mosaic of issues about what it means to be Black in an Trumpian America.

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-028-9
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 03-15-2022
Length: 192pp
Buy It: Publisher/  Amazon/ B&N/ IndieBound

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Overview:

In these impassioned, powerful essays, an award-winning journalist deals forthrightly with what it means to be Black in an America that still supports Trump.

South Carolina–based journalist Issac J. Bailey reflects on a wide range of complex, divisive topics—from police brutality and Confederate symbols to respectability politics and white discomfort—which have taken on a fresh urgency with the protest movement sparked by George Floyd’s killing. Bailey has been honing his views on these issues for the past quarter of a century in his professional and private life, which included an eighteen-year stint as a member of a mostly white Evangelical Christian church.

Why Didn’t We Riot? speaks to and for the millions of Black and Brown people throughout the United States who were effectively pushed back to the back of the bus in the Trump era by a media that prioritized the concerns and feelings of the white working class and an administration that made white supremacists giddy, and explains why the country’s fate in 2020 and beyond is largely in their hands. It will be an invaluable resource for the everyday reader, as well as political analysts, college professors and students, and political consultants and campaigns vying for high office.

Showcase - Son of Svea A Tale of the People's Home by LENA ANDERSSON Translated by SARAH DEATH

Today I have another wonderful new offering from my favorite Indie, Other Press, Son of Svea a tale about society and family.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13:  978-1-63542-004-3
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 02-01-2022
Length: 288pp
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Overview:

From one of Sweden’s most astute cultural critics, a razor-sharp comedy of the progress and ruin of the industrial welfare state, told through the story of a single family.

Ragnar Johansson is born in 1932, a transformative moment in Swedish history. He has Swedish social democracy flowing through his veins—convinced it lifted humankind out of the dark ages and into modernity, he cherishes it. At times Ragnar despises his mother, Svea, whose perpetual baking, scrubbing, and canning represent the poverty of the peasantry. Ragnar, for his part, hails the efficiency of washing machines and prefab food. Once he has children himself, he raises them in accordance with his values, standing in the ski track supporting his daughter Elsa as she works hard to become one of the best skiers in the country. While Svea is a relic of the past, Elsa represents hope for the future. In time, however, Ragnar realizes that the world is changing. Is his golden age coming to an end?

In Son of Svea, Lena Andersson offers a characteristically funny, wise, and moving family chronicle about the social transformations that unite and divide us, and about finding the courage to be true to oneself.

The Child Is the Teacher A Life of Maria Montessori by CRISTINA DE STEFANO Translated by GREGORY CONTI

Montessori is a name every American parent is familiar with now you can read an in depth biography of the founder of the Montessori School.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-084-5
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 03-08-2022
Length: 368pp
Buy It: Amazon/ B&N/ IndieBound

Overview:

A fresh, comprehensive biography of the pioneering educator and activist who changed the way we look at children’s minds, from the author of Oriana Fallaci.

Born in 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy, Maria Montessori would grow up to embody almost every trait men of her era detested in the fairer sex. She was self-confident, strong-willed, and had a fiery temper at a time when women were supposed to be soft and pliable. She studied until she became a doctor at a time when female graduates in Italy provoked outright scandal. She never wanted to marry or have children—the accepted destiny for all women of her milieu in late nineteenth-century bourgeois Rome—and when she became pregnant by a colleague of hers, she gave up her son to continue pursuing her career.
At around age thirty, Montessori was struck by the condition of children in the slums of Rome’s San Lorenzo neighborhood, and realized what she wanted to do with her life: change the school, and therefore the world, through a new approach to the child’s mind. In spite of the resistance she faced from all sides—scientists accused her of being too mystical, and the clergy of being too scientific, traditionalists of giving children too much freedom, and anarchists of giving them too much structure—she would garner acclaim and establish the influential Montessori method, which is now practiced throughout the world.
A thorough, nuanced portrait of this often controversial woman, The Child Is the Teacher offers an unbiased perspective from an author who is not a member of the Montessori movement, but who has been granted access to original letters, diaries, notes, and texts written by Montessori herself, including an array of previously unpublished material.

Showcase - Every Leaf a Hallelujah by Ben Okri Illustrated by Diana Ejaita

Today I'm so happy to be showcasing a wonderful children's book a new release from Other Press by Ben Okri,  Every Leaf a Hallelujah - An environmental fairytale made for our times, written to be read by adults and children, from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Famished Road. 

Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-270-2
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 02-22-2022
Length: 112pp
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Overview:

The Guardian: Best Children’s and YA Book of the Year

An environmental fairytale that speaks eloquently to the most pressing issues of our times, from the Booker Prize–winning author of The Famished Road.

Mangoshi lives with her mom and dad in a village near the forest. When her mom becomes ill, Mangoshi knows only one thing can help her—a special flower that grows deep in the forest.

The little girl needs all her courage when she sets out alone to find and bring back the flower, and all her kindness to overpower the dangers she encounters on the quest.

Ben Okri brings the power of his mystic vision to a timely story that weaves together wonder, adventure, and environmentalism.

PRAISE:

“Ben Okri’s Every Leaf a Hallelujah is beautiful and wise—a true fable for our time. And Diana Ejaita’s illustrations are spectacular.” —Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction

‘It was a sheer joy to be able to read this. It is mysterious and magical and true. Children and those who read it to them will love it and long remember it. The illustrations are woven wonderfully around the words; the trees are with you, telling it, writing it. Once read we will know never to take trees or leaves for granted again. A powerful symphony of a story that will resonate for every reader. We hear the wind in the trees on every page. We only have to listen’ MICHAEL MORPURGO

Ben's Message to Readers

In the forest near Mangoshi’s village in Africa there grows a very special flower. Mangoshi knows that only this flower can save her mother’s life. It can save her village too. All she has to do is find it.

Ben Okri and Diana Ejaita have created a magical world of beauty and colour, an enchanting array of extraordinary trees, each with its own personality and voice. The chief among them, the great baobab, invites us into his branches to travel the world and see for ourselves the perils of not listening to nature. All around us, forests are vanishing, and no one is listening.

Ben Okri is a poet, novelist, essayist, short-story writer, anthologist, aphorist, and playwright. He has also written screenplays. His works have won numerous national and international prizes, including the Booker Prize for Fiction.

Meet the Illustrator:
Diana Ejaita works as an illustrator and textile designer in Berlin. Born in Cremona, Italy, and of Nigerian origins, her aesthetic pays homage to her lineage.