A Blood Condition Kayo Chingonyi

Shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2021

A Blood Condition tells a story of inheritance – the people, places, cultures and memories that form us. Kayo Chingonyi explores how distance and time, nations and a century’s history, can collapse within a body; our past continuous in our present. From London, Leeds, and The North East to the banks of the Zambezi river, these poems consider change and permanence, grief and joy, the painful ongoing process of letting go, with remarkable music and clarity.

Chingonyi’s poems are full of questions that need asking. His gift is for pushing poems further than you expected them to go –Observer

Kayo’s poetry is beautiful, thoughtful, musical and nostalgic –Nikesh Shukla

Whether recalling his parents’ deaths or celebrating the art of the mixtape, Chingonyi’s poise is astonishing –Daily Telegraph

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