Cargo Hold Of Stars

"Torabullys book is an inspired tribute to a people taken from their homes in India, China, and other Asian communities and forced into labor. The poems stand out for their lyrical richness and spiritual depth: the experience of exile is interwoven with a desire for reconciliation. The poems are written in a French infused with Mauritian Creole, Old Scandinavian, Old French, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Urdu, and various neologisms. . . . Cargo Hold of Stars: Coolitude celebrates diversity and the beauty of resilience. Even those unfamiliar with the cultural heritage of Mauritius will not only enjoy the collection but will feel expanded by it." * Los Angeles Review of Books * "It is difficult to overestimate the political significance of Torabullys epic. . ." * The Nation * "[A] groundbreaking poetry collection. . . notable for its conceptualization of coolitude as well as for its linguistic innovation and sensual archipelagic imagery. . . . In todays Covid-19 reality of closing national borders, Torabullys collection takes on renewed appeal as it challenges us to dare to imagine a fragile and yet glittering tomorrow." * World Literature Today * "Torabully crafts images of the sea, replete with longing, to help the reader comprehend the depths of Coolitude the experiences of these indentured workers, cast across the wide world and caught in a net of circumstance which insists they formulate new ways of existence while at the same time struggling to preserve their heart-links to distant homes... a vivid and evocative testament to which the reader may return again and again, for in the saga of Coolitude, we may see mirrored the struggles and the hopes of all humankind." * Beltway Poetry Quarterly * Whether you have a valentine this month or not, this love poem by prize-winning Mauritian poet and thinker Torabully is not to be missed. * Johannesburg Review of Books * A clear, prospective dimension accompanies the memory of the forgotten, devoured by history, in this song of love with its Homeric reminiscences. * Ottmar Ette *

Khal Torabully is a poet, essayist, film director, and semiologist who has published over twenty-five books. Nancy Naomi Carlson is a poet, translator, and editor based in Maryland. A recipient of a literature translation fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, she is also a senior translation editor for Tupelo Quarterly.

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