My first full length poetry collection, Radical Normalisation, was published by UK based publisher, Carcanet Press on 29th September 2022 UK (24th November 2022 USA).
Radical Normalisation is an exploration into, and a pushing against, societies defined edges of what a person with a ‘normal’ mind is supposed to look, act and sound like. What does healing look like? Who gets to decide the boundaries of ‘normal’, in terms of how our brains work, what we see and experience as reality, and how we think and act? What exactly is reality anyway? The collection asks, what does it mean, and what does it take to be(come) radically ourselves, not selfish, mindless individuality, but ‘individuation’ in the Jungian sense; courageously un-covering, facing and accepting, the roots/routes and starry shoots of our be-ing and becoming, our mind-full thinking, with all its shadow and light? The collection also asks questions about poetry as a resource and a value, explores themes of neurodiversity and mental health through ideas of generational trauma, ancestral memory, self-acceptance, forgiveness and love.
You can read more about the title here,
find out a bit more about the collection here,
and watch the virtual book launch here.
Dedication
Radical Normalisation is dedicated, first and foremost, to the loving memory of my father, Martin Clive Sorhaindo. Also to ‘mad’ and ‘messy’ people, past, present and future; those ‘locked in attics’ real or imagined; the disbelieved; the shrew, ‘wandering womb’ women; those deemed to be too sensitive, too loud, too wild; those who see the world in a flood of (dis)ordered symbols; those too far away from ‘normal’…in-sane…out-of-their-right-minds; those who toppled or were tipped over the edge by this beautiful but complex and often pain-full, existence on earth. And, to those understanding healers and helpers like C. G. Jung, Malidoma Patrice Somé, R. D. Laing and Dr Gabor Maté, to name just a few; all our wise, ‘medicine’ men and women, our shamans, prophets, gurus; all who are effectively using and developing compassionate, balanced, holistic approaches to help fractured souls heal themselves back to a home of wholeness.
Finally to Vievee Francis, who helped me understand what a radical, revolutionary and necessary act ‘being yourself’ truly is, and from whom I first heard the phrase ‘Radical Normativity’; and to the work of Dr. Charlie Heriot-Maitland, that I came across online soon after, in one of life’s serendipitous moments, and his phrase ‘Radical Normalisation’.
Acknowledgements
With thanks and deep gratitude to:
My dear family for your love and support – Mum (Alexandra/Alix), husband Paul, siblings (Kenneth, Carol, Michael, Auraum Benneurt/Imani) – Aunty Leng for the inspiring books I’ve borrowed over the years and your constant support for the arts, tt for always keeping it real, The Nature Island Literary Festival (NILF) organising team, chaired by Dr. Alwin Bully and Dr. Schuyler Esprit (also Create Caribbean founder and director) and all who contributed and performed over the years, Polly Pattullo of Papillote Press, Dr. Kimone Joseph (Head, The University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus Dominica), Raymond Lawrence and Dominica Division of Culture, faculty and staff of the Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies, The UWI St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago, including Dr. Maarit Forde and Dr. Muli Amaye, Vievee Francis and Gregory Pardlo (The Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop) and the CCWW Chapel Hill 2017 cohort, Dr. Merle Hodge, Prof. Funso Aiyejina, Dr. Danielle Lyndersay (The Cropper Foundation Caribbean Writers programme), the Cropper 2016 Balandra group and all the writers who visited, The Caribbean Writer and Moko magazine families, Andy Caul (ACalabash), Tracey Guiry and Maggie Sullivan (The Poetry Archive), Maggie Queeney (The Poetry Foundation Forms & Features workshops), Jordan Hartt (Kahini.org), David B. Dacosta (Black Eskimo Podcast), MJ Fièvre (Badass Black Girl and Miami Book Fair), BOCAS Literary Festival team, Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival team, Dr. Opal Palmer Adisa, Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, Kathy Casimir MacLean (DASSSA), Catherine-Esther Cowie, Mac Donald Dixon, Joanne C. Hillhouse, Ian Jackson, Oonya Kempadoo, John Robert Lee, Vladimir Lucien, Shara McCallum, Geoffrey Philp, Shivanee N. Ramlochan, the rest of my poetry writing and reading family, present, past and future, and to the Carcanet team, Michael Schmidt, John McAuliffe, Jazmine Linklater, Becky Scott, Andrew Latimer and Alan Brenik, for all your kindness, care and support.
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