World Literature: Sulaiman Addonia (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Britain) “The Seers”

Reminiscent of Zora Neale Hurston and Clarice Lispector, Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist Sulaiman Addonia turns a wandering eye toward the erotic and intimate lives of asylum seekers in his forthcoming novel, The Seers. Sulaiman visits City of Asylum this Spring in the company of moderator and City of Asylum Curator for World Literature, Anderson Tepper. 

“Sulaiman Addonia’s Silence Is My Mother Tongue was one of my favorite books of recent memory. Only Addonia could take the grim backdrop of a Sudanese refugee camp and turn it into such a richly-layered story of sibling love and erotic liberation. In his latest, The Seers, an Eritrean asylum-seeker in London sets off on her own adventure of self-exploration, defying all expectations and remapping her world.” —Anderson Tepper

Set around a foster home in Kilburn and in the squares of Bloomsbury where its protagonist Hannah sleeps, The Seers chronicles the first weeks of a young Eritrean refugee’s life in London. As Hannah grapples with her own agency in a strange country, her sexual encounters become an unapologetic expression of self—a defiant cry against the endless bureaucracy of immigration.

In a single, gripping, continuous paragraph, The Seers moves between past and present to paint a surreal and sensual portrait of a life being burned up in search of refuge. For Hannah, caught between worlds in the UK asylum system, the West is both savior and abuser, seeking always to shape her, but never succeeding in suppressing her voice.

You can pre-order a copy of Sulaiman’s book, The Seers, at City of Asylum Bookstore today, or purchase an advance copy at the program (two full weeks ahead of The Seers’ official publication date!)

About the Author:

Sulaiman Addonia is an Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist. He spent his early life in a refugee camp and went on to earn an MA from the University of London. His first novel, The Consequences of Love (Chatto & Windus, 2008), was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and translated into more than 20 languages. His second novel, Silence Is My Mother Tongue (Indigo Press, 2019; Graywolf Press, 2020), was a finalist for the 2021 Lambda Literary Awards. Addonia currently lives in Brussels where he founded the Creative Writing Academy for Refugees & Asylum Seekers and the Asmara-Addis Literary Festival In Exile.

About the Moderator:

Anderson Tepper is City of Asylum’s Curator of World Literature. He has been a guest curator of PEN America’s World Voices Festival and is a longstanding member of the international committee of the Brooklyn Book Festival. He writes on books and authors for a variety of publications, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and World Literature Today. Anderson also serves on the City of Asylum Advisory Board.

About Your Visit: 

The in-house restaurant Cucina Alfabeto is closed on Sundays and Mondays.