after war

A vital and urgent exploration of identity, memory and survival – for fans of Safia Elhillo, Hasib Hourani and Ocean Vuong.

after war is an unwavering exploration of brutality and its consequences, moving adroitly between personal experience and the written record to plumb the ‘after’ and ongoingness of war, genocide and displacement. Unfurling from the Bosnian war and its traumas, this searing debut examines identity and un/belonging; language and its elisions; history and how we remember it; violence and how we are implicated in it.

Through experiments in form and voice, Dzenana Vucic’s deeply humane poetry bears witness not only to suffering, but to courage and strength. Generous and incisive, this extraordinary collection refuses both to look away or submit to despair; it compels readers not to either.