Dark Under Kiganda Stars

Keene, New York: Ausable Press, 2005. T2 - An advance reading copy paperback book in very good condition that is lightly curled, some light discoloration and shelf wear. 9"x6", 117 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. The poems in Dark Under Kiganda Stars offer a startling lyrical account of a young Catholic American student's time in Uganda, where she taught English in the Kiganda HIghway Secondary School and worked in the local medical clinic during the summer of 2003, living with the family of a Ugandan priest, Father Achilles Kiwanuka. She was given several classes of students, a caning stick, and was told to "teach anything." In the clinic she was soon helping to deliver babies and trending to people with AIDS. WRitten while the author was still in college, it is an astonishing debut, richly musical and descriptive, confident, unpretentious, and bursting with new experience: love, identity, religious faith, and the complex collisions of culture and language. Hegnauer's book will appeal to several different audiences. Poetry-readers will discover the precocious work of a very young writer - only 21 when the book was completed - and be struck by her technical virtuosity and the emotional and intellectual depth of her poems. Those interested in multicultural issues will find a wealth here; the poet's exploration and assimilation of Ugandan culture, people and language is an insightful and memorable record of her experience, told in language that's lively and entertaining. Catholic readers will be fascinated by the quandaries with which she was faced and how she reconciles her actions with her very strong faith.. Paperback. Very Good/No Jacket as Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Advance Reading Copy (ARC).