The Interior and Emotional Connections of African Poetry 

The latest African Poetry Book Fund chapbook box set, Kumi, contains ten chapbooks by nine African poets. This collection rousingly reveals the inescapable realities of human existence through contemporary African poetry. 

In the decade since the founding of the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) and its chapbook box set initiative, edited by renowned poets, Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani, we have seen its incubation of young generation African poets. The promising poets of yesteryears like Leila Chatti, Saddiq Dzukogi, Sadia Hassan, Rasaq M. Gbolahan, Michelle Angwenyi, Ladan Osman, Romeo Oriogun, Adedayo Agarau first platformed on the international stage by the APBF have become the great African poets of today, doing great things in literature. In this latest offering published in 2024, marking its tenth anniversary, the box set features nine African poets, many already well-known to avid followers of African poetry. These poets seem connected by a common desire for emotional truth and an interior consideration of the struggles of existence in and out of the continent...