Uzodinma Iweala: 2008
Beasts of No Nation
Uzodinma Iweala reads from his critically acclaimed debut novel Beasts of No Nation, which tells the story of Agu, a child soldier fighting in a civil war in an unnamed west African country. In this section we are introduced to Agu, his friend Strika, Luftenant, and Commandante, as Agu kills for the first time.
Luftenant is saying don't think. Just let it happen. He is saying that the second you are stopping to think about it, your head is turning to the inside of rotten fruit. Commandante is saying it is like falling in love. You cannot be thinking about it. You are just having to do it, he is saying, and I am believing him. What else can I be doing?
From KWLS 2008: New Voices. (17:42) / 8.1 MB
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This recording is being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2008 Uzodinma Iweala. Used with generous permission from Uzodinma Iweala.
Recordings of the Key West Literary Seminar began in 1988, when Meg O'Brien recorded and produced our annual event for WLRN's Radio Reading Service. Two decades later, we continue Meg's work. Our goal is to create a complete digital archive of Seminar recordings, and to release the best of these recordings here. You can listen right here on our site, download the .mp3 files, and/or subscribe to a series of podcasts. Recordings are released on a casual schedule, as soon as they are ready. Contact Arlo Haskell, our media director, with any questions: arlohaskell [at] gmail [dot] com.
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