Stranger in the Family

I’m happy to announce the release of the Kindle edition of my book, Stranger in the Family.  It is now available in the Kindle store for $3.99—a Black History Month special!

Stranger in the Family is a mixed-media memoir that examines the shifting terrain upon which we negotiate race, kinship, and identity. When my father died of cancer in the spring of 2004, I accepted an offer to teach in the tiny east African country of Djibouti. While abroad, I reflected upon the complicated concept of diaspora, and the alienation I sometimes felt as a foreigner brought to mind a hurtful remark my father once directed at me: “You’re a stranger in this family.” When my teaching assignment in Djibouti ended prematurely, I returned to Toronto and wrote a collection of essays to more closely examine my “outsider” role within my family and my native land. Stranger in the Family uses essays, photography, short stories, and poetry to trace my evolution as a black feminist, a writer, a daughter, and a Canadian.

Here’s some of what George Elliott Clarke had to say in his review for The Chronicle Herald (2/8/09):

“…as an African-Canadian African-American, [Elliott] may consider race and racism, as well as cultural differences, from both sides of the 49th parallel, and she is ably suited for doing so…she writes lucid, beautiful, thoughtful, and compelling prose…Elliott does not demonize one locale at the expense of another; rather, she is fastidiously balanced…she insists that her readers view Canada from a black woman’s perspective and America from a Canadian perspective. The result is a book that forces one to rethink all the clichés about each nation. But Stranger in the Family isn’t mere sociology or self-help therapy either. It is writing that draws comparison to both Bell Hooks and Margaret Atwood, James Baldwin and Mordecai Richler, uniting African-American and Canadian influences.”

The Kindle edition of Stranger in the Family is available at Amazon.com and Amazon.uk.  If you don’t own a Kindle, you can download your free Kindle app here (for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Android).

The paperback can be ordered from my e-store, in bookstores, at Amazon.com, or at Amazon.ca.  Please feel free to circulate this message and share with colleagues who teach Black Studies, Gender Studies, and/or multicultural literature.