No Roses from My Mouth by Stella Nyanzi

About Stella Nyanzi

No Roses from My Mouth by Stella Nyanzi

(Note: Stella Nyanzi is Ugandan, not Kenyan — but is widely taught and read across East Africa and fits naturally into an East African literary catalog.) Stella Nyanzi is one of Africa's most extraordinary and dangerous voices — a queer feminist academic and activist who was imprisoned in Uganda for her poetry and political activism. No Roses from My Mouth collects poems written during her incarceration, bristling with rage, grief, tenderness, and defiant humor. The collection addresses state violence, gender oppression, motherhood, sexuality, and the body as a site of political resistance. It is not comfortable reading — it was not written to be. It is, however, essential reading for anyone who takes African women's voices and the poetry of resistance seriously.