How to Say Babylon

Bookseller recommendation

“The author's own voice, a poets voice, illuminates this memoir by animating the members of her Rastafarian family and by amplifying the patriarchy and isolation she endured before persistence allowed her to express her art. ”

— Laura • Mind Chimes Bookshop

Bookseller recommendation

“A poetic memoir of growing up Rastafari in Jamaica. A gripping story of growing up under a fundamentalist father who tried to mold her into the perfect Rasta daughter but who eventually rebelled and broke free. The writing is wonderful, melodious - it’s so clear it’s a poet who’s writing. The author’s many years of reciting poetry shines thru in her both intimate and dramatic reading of her memoir. ”

— Anne • Newtonville Books

Bookseller recommendation

“The author's growing understanding of her childhood isolation and the world around her helped turn her pain into poetry as she broke free. After reading this memoir I am now interested in reading some of her award winning poetry. ”

— Ellen • Banter Bookshop

Bookseller recommendation

“One of the most resonant memoirs I’ve ever heard. Sinclair shares her journey of generational trauma, Rastafari tenets, poverty, Jamaica, the U.S., and the saving power of poetry (which anyone who loves poetry will completely understand). So emotionally gripping, I couldn’t help but root for her. ”

— Jennifer • Tattered Cover

Bookseller recommendation

“Jamaican-born poet Safiya Sinclair’s memoir about growing up in a strict Rastafarian household is one of the most powerful stories I have experienced in a long time. I learned so much about Jamaica, Rastafarianism, and this extraordinary woman listening to How to Say Babylon. Sinclair’s exquisite prose, heard in her own voice is ravishing. Her story of growing up in a culture broadly shaped by the shackles of colonialism and a household ruled by a violent, authoritarian father obsessed with his daughter’s purity is terrifying and ultimately triumphant.”

— Claire • Honest Dog Books

Bookseller recommendation

“This book is a true account of a girl growing up under her father's strict Rastafarian beliefs, which turned to fanaticism. Smoking weed was acceptable; eating meat was forbidden. The main tenets of the sect are disdain for 'Babylon,' white people’s influence and Western ways. Yet even in their homeland of Jamaica, Safiya and her siblings were outcasts for being Rastafarian, ostracized by other Jamaicans for not cutting their hair and wearing dreadlocks. Like many religions controlled by patriarchal dominance, girls and women were held to higher and hypocritical standards and forced submissiveness, living under fear of the father's rule. It was their mother who set them on a quest for knowledge and education in which they excelled. Safiya eventually became a poet, exemplified in this book as her words flow and form into a beautifully expressed narrative. Overcoming such a childhood and thriving as an adult offers parallels to The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and Educated by Tara Westover.I listened to this audiobook through Libro.fm.”

— Annette • The Well-Read Moose