Nigerian-born Brooklynite releases poetry collection

April 24, 2013 From Dream Relations

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It has been said that poetry is music written for the human voice. In “Market of Dreams” (Indio Sine), Brooklyn-based poet Ololade Siyonbola tells the story of an immigrant child who comes to the U.S. at a young age and finds herself amidst confusion. Through the poems in her collection, Siyonbola has come to reconcile her cultural heritage with her experience living as an American and the friction it has caused among family and peers. Siyonbola’s voice is willful, confident, and compassionate, and her poems heighten our sensitivity for the innocence of love, the plight of women, the pain and fear of politics and the fight to be free in our own minds.

Ololade Siyonbola is a Historian and the co-founder of the Brooklyn based Yoruba Cultural Institute and Director of Exodus to Afrika International, a research and action organization that provides housing and work resources as well as cultural training to Diasporians interested in traveling or relocating to Africa. Born in Lagos, Nigeria during a period of failing, dictatorial military rule, Siyonbola immigrated to the United States by way of London in 1991. Throughout her journey she documented the developing history of her generation in poetry, prose, fiction and photography. Her previously published works include “Yoruba Girl Lost,” “Akata v Afrikana” and “Growing up Amefrican.” Siyonbola’s work has also been published in several Disapora publications including African Abroad, Applause Africa, Nigerians in America and West African News. Siyonbola resides in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. For more information, visit www.siyonbola.com; Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ololadesiyonbola; Twitter https://twitter.com/Siyonbola