Praise for Aracelis Girmay:

" Girmay's] every loss--she calls them estrangements--is a yearning for connection across time and place; her every fragment is a bulwark against ruin." --O, The Oprah Magazine

Taking its name from the moon's dark plains, misidentified as seas by early astronomers, the black maria investigates African diasporic histories, the consequences of racism within American culture, and the question of human identity. Central to this project is a desire to recognize the lives of Eritrean refugees who have been made invisible by years of...

A stirring story of African diaspora, resourcefulness, and intergenerational love by renowned poet Aracelis Girmay and EJK finalist Diana Ejaita One day, young Kamau and his grandmother ZuZu wake up to find themselves on the moon. Kamau doesn’t remember Back Home, but Grandma ZuZu does, and she misses it terribly. Together, through cloth scraps and dance, letters and song, Kamau and ZuZu find a way to make a new life for themselves in this strange land: a new life which is not only rooted in the stories, memories, and traditions that ZuZu always carries with her, but which also lovingly...