If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English

A RISKY AND PROVOCATIVE EXPLORATION OF THE FLUIDITY OF POWER AND PRIVILEGE: A troubled relationship gives stakes and shape to the complex, often shifting, benefits of class, gender, and nationality. A scathing exploration of the American tendency to conflate identity politics with moral purity and the rise of social-justice tourism. Situated between the African diaspora and the Arab Spring, this book complicates both.

ENERGETIC PROSE AND EXPERIMENTAL STRUCTURE CREATE A SWOOPING AND UNPREDICTABLE STORY OF CULTURES AND PEOPLE AT ODDS: Told by dual (and often dueling) narrators in three parts, crisp and unexpected prose plays with what we cannot, or simply will not, translate for each other.

SECOND WINNER OF THE GRAYWOLF AFRICA PRIZE: Chosen by judge Igoni Barrett, the highly anticipated second book of this prize series brings a bold new voice and fresh perspective to African literature.