Overview

Can a country man make it in Liberia? This is the question Sumowor Gbamokorli wrestles with during his long and eventful journey from village life in Fuama Chiefdom to the capital city, Monrovia, where kwii men seem to have all the power. Set in the mid-1960s, Birds Are Singing is the story of an ambitious native Liberian caught in the webs of conservative tribal and ""civilized"" societies that deny him the freedom to live according to his own plans. Wilton Sankawulo's tragic hero takes the reader on an adventure full of strife, intrigue, and triumphs against the odds. From the rituals of secret societies and family traditions in the interior, to crooks and corrupt leaders in the city, Sankawulo's colorful characters reveal the social, cultural, and political factors that have long inhibited development and unity in Liberia. Through all the temptations, will Korli stay true to himself and to his wife, Leanya? Will he ever be accepted for his talents and respected for his vision? Birds Are Singing is a story that brilliantly portrays a nation torn apart by tribalism and tyranny, while offering remedies that might finally serve to usher in equality and justice.

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Birds Are Singing holds a mirror up to Liberia and reveals a place where the best and brightest are cut down time and time again to the detriment of all. And we-- Liberian people--must read it with that same urgency with which Sankawulo put it down as the ultimate deadline loomed before him. And then read it again...until we see our face(s), hear our voice(s) and those of our ancestors, settlers and indigenous alike, as they really are. Maybe then we'll break the curse we would all like to pretend does not exist. --Sengbe Kona Khasu, Musician, Screenwriter and Director, Hunting in America and We Want Election, No More Selection: A Documentary on the Liberian Election of 2005 Birds Are Singing gives great insight into Liberian history, culture and politics. Like Sankawulo's previous novels, The Rain and the Night, and Sundown at Dawn, it confirms his brilliant role as a teacher, historian and preserver of culture. Birds Are Singing not only imparts to the reader his knowledge of Liberia's past, but it also lays out, in Korli's parable, the need to analyze past failures to rectify them and chart a successful future as individuals and as a nation. --Althea Romeo-Mark, author of If Only the Dust Would Settle: Selected Poems Sankawulo's last song is his richest, deepest, most fearless plumbing of the insistent themes he explored throughout his writing life.... No one--whether rural or urban--is spared Sankawulo's hawk-eyed gaze. Monrovia of the Tubman years teems with cutthroats, backstabbers, con artists, swindlers, and ruthless social climbers. Traditional moorings are threatened by urban anonymity. The natural beauty of Haindi and its environs is set against the stronghold of both empowering and corrosive traditions. This book is Sankawulo's magnum opus, his final compulsive effort to be heard and understood, his vision of a just, egalitarian, productive Liberian society, his thorough understanding of both our better natures and our very ugly, wicked ways, and his prayer for our redemption. --Stephanie Horton, Sea Breeze Journal of Contemporary Liberian Writings Birds Are Singing is of exceptional importance because it is the first novel by a prominent Liberian writer to evince a clear consciousness of a modern, indigenous Liberian's uneasy stance and moral confusion as he remains organically attached to his culture and ancestral mores while at the same time is irresistibly attracted to Western civilization and a Western education. --Robert H. Brown, author of To Seek a Newer World Wilton Sankawulo is a gifted writer who knows three worlds well: traditional Kpelle society deep in the West African forest, a deeply hybrid but continually evolving Liberia, and a cosmopolitan 21st century America that hungers to know ways of life whose destruction it helped to cause....Birds Are Singing is both a warmly human account of the rise and fall of a talented but naive country boy into the highest ranks of power, and a parable of a sick nation. The history of Liberia through the reign of President William Vacanarat Shadrack Tubman is told in thinly disguised story form. Moreover, the rest of Liberia's story up to and including the tragic civil conflicts of the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s is present in embryo. The reader who knows Liberia well--in fact any reader who knows the tragedy of failed states around the world-- will understand this story. Read it, enjoy it, and reflect on it. --John Gay, author of Red Dust on the Green Leaves and The Brightening Shadow

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