But It's a Long Way by Frédérique Guétat-Liviani. Translated from the French by Nathanaël (Nightboat Books, paperback)
Publication Date: May 1, 2018
Publisher Marketing: Poetry. A book of arresting poems that inscribes the lived experiences of public housing residents in the southeast of France. Frédérique Guétat-Liviani's but it's a long way is a peace treaty in the form of several soliloquies that, taken together, read like a death warrant or an obituary for an age that has never come. Transcribed from conversations with people of all ages living in public housing in the suburbs of Avignon, these narratives evoke itineraries between Morocco, Algeria, Albania, Spain, Mayotte, Côte d'Ivoire and France. The result is a magisterial work, a continental chorus that articulates a confluence of humanities.
