Sulaiman S.M.Y. Addonia is an author whose work delves into the complexities of identity and displacement, often drawing from personal experience. His prose is known for its evocative power, transporting readers to the heart of challenging human circumstances. Through his narratives, Addonia explores themes of belonging, resilience, and the search for home in a fragmented world. His unique perspective offers profound insights into the immigrant experience.
The Seers tells the story of an Eritrean refugee in London, moving between past and present to explore intergenerational histories and the UK asylum system. The novel grapples with how agency is given to the sexual lives of refugees, insisting that the erotic and intimate side of life is as much a part of someone’s story as land and nations.
Addis Ababa is a sprawling melting pot of cultures where rich and poor live side by side in relative harmony--until they don't.
In a time of war, what is the shape of love? Saba arrives in an East African refugee camp as a young girl, devastated to have been wrenched from school and forced to abandon her books as her family flees to safety. In this unfamiliar, crowded and often hostile space, she must carve out a new existence. As she struggles to maintain her sense of self, she remains fiercely protective of her mute brother, Hagos -- each sibling resisting the roles gender and society assign. Through a cast of complex, beautifully drawn characters, Sulaiman Addonia questions what it means to be a man, to be a woman, to be an individual when circumstance has forced the loss of all that makes a home or a feature. 'Remarkable.' -- Guardian 'Richly written.' -- Daily Mail 'Unique and intelligent.' -- Big Issue
He spends his time writing to his mother in Africa and yearning to meet a woman - but in a country that separates men and women with walls and veils he feels increasingly trapped. Then, one of the black-clad women drops a piece of paper at his feet, instructing him to follow her pink shoes and suddenly his black-and-white life blooms into colour.