The Wounded Soul of a Black Elephant

By Gabriel Mwènè Okoundji

A powerful bilingual (English/French) legacy edition of Gabriel Mwènè Okoundji's celebrated poetry collection. Drawing from Teke oral traditions, memory, exile, and spiritual inheritance, these poems move through wind, moonlight, forests, grief, and ancestral presence with striking lyrical force. Translated by Peter Figueroa, this edition preserves the rhythm and symbolic richness of the original French while opening the work to a wider international readership. Ideal for readers of African literature, world poetry, postcolonial studies, and literary translation, this volume offers a profound meditation on identity, mortality, and resilience. A beautiful addition to poetry collections, academic reading lists, and readers seeking transformative, soulful verse.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1915527287
• ISBN13: 9781915527288
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Books of Africa
• Length: 116 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.1" x 9.2"