Boston-based Nigerian experimentalist and writer KÁNYIN Olorunnisola has announced the forthcoming release of his full-length poetry collection, Ara’luebo: The Immigrant Monologues, scheduled for publication on March 15, 2026.
The book will be published by Acre Books and distributed through the University of Chicago Press.
Rooted in the layered experiences of immigrants, Ara’luebo is a layered exploration of the immigrant identity through the voices of multiple Nigerian and Nigerian American characters, whose stories are presented as poetic monologues that are as suitable for the page as they are for the stage. Mixing Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin, and English, the collection is a blend of linguistic influences, with debts to theatre, visual art, film, and rap music. At the center of its expression is formal experimentation; poems are structured like movie screenplays, diary scribblings, flowcharts, pie charts, and dictionary entries.
Olorunnisola is the author of two chapbooks, In My Country We’re All Crossdressers and Shakespeares in the Ghetto, and the director of the short film Chiaroscuro, which premiered at the 2024 Rising Tide Film Festival. His writing has appeared in Al Jazeera, FIYAH, Georgia Review, and the Chicago Review of Books, among others. A graduate of the University of Alabama’s MFA program, he previously taught creative writing and served as an editor at Black Warrior Review. His work has been supported by Harvard University’s Woodberry Poetry Room, the Levitetz Leadership Program, the Speculative Literature Foundation, and AWP.
Ara’luebo: The Immigrant Monologues is now available for pre-order through Acre Books, ahead of its March 2026 release.
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
