Shortlisted for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction • Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and President Barack Obama
In the spirit of Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is a breathtaking, lyrical memoir of a young woman breaking free from the rigid confines of her upbringing to claim her own destiny.
Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Safiya Sinclair was raised by a volatile father who adhered to a strict, patriarchal sect of Rastafari. To shield his daughters from "Babylon"—the corrupting, anti-Black, post-colonial Western world outside their gate—he strictly controlled every aspect of their lives. But inside the home, Safiya's mother quietly gifted her children a passion for books and language. Through the saving grace of poetry, education, and sisterhood, Safiya forged an indelible path toward her own survival, power, and voice.