A Name That Is Mine

“In this poetry collection, Mbuh Mbuh Tennu offers a virulent indictment of the multifarious faces of pain which have lent a dystopian colouring to “our” world. These poems are all at once, songs of lament, regret, defiance and protest. The idea of naming which is a central motif underscores the dangers of being foreign named; which implies being claimed and owned – and more importantly the imperative of self-naming – to claim a name and to own that name; to self-define and to defy attempts to contravene this. This is a collection for our time; our timelessness. It is an urgent, reflective and incisive call to stay awake and be actors of our history.” - Blossom Ngum Fondo, Associate Professor, University of Maroua