Cirrus@Austlit

'Andrew’s sixth poetry collection, Outside of Here. Outsider Hear!,  is mined from rich lived experience in Ghana, Japan, Europe and Australia, Moss draws upon his positionality as an Anglo-Akan-Australian member of the African Diaspora. This collection is refreshingly diverse in its multiple viewpoints and planetary humanism, meditating on the dichotomous condition of alienation, belonging and the many experiences in between. Outside of Here. Outsider Hear! unlocks experiences of the dislocation of migration and home as an imagined and remembered place.'  (Publication summary)

'Diaspora³ is an exploration of Andrew Geoffrey Kwabena Moss's Akan-Anglo-Australian identity.

'This collection travels forth and back, overlapping/ dovetailing memories of time, people and place. Indigenous Australian, European and African diaspora dynamics are connected to the poet's personal experiences and hopes for the future.

'The collection seeks to explore, interrogate and challenge notions of fixed identities and nation states. Diaspora³ is a ceremonial attempt to keep a spirit of hybrid realities and alternatives alive.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Japanabandon - Travels in Japan is a collection of autoethnographic poems that explore the poet's experiences and reflections of teaching in Japan in the late 1990s.

'These poems investigate the themes of dislocation in migration and home as both an imagined and remembered place.

'Japan is part of a wider challenge for this Anglo-Ghanaian poet to find Zion. Moss navigates an unfamiliar culture with an already developed outsider's perspective and double consciousness. The poet inhabits a privileged vantage point of being able to see in both directions and now a third is added.

'Moss's writing about Japan considers the interplay between Occidental views of the Orient and Oriental views of the Occident, journeying through the topography of Edward Said's 'imaginative geographies and histories.'

'The poems in Japanabandon chart initial culture shocks, their tremors and aftershocks.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Manifest.oh! grapples with (post and neo) colonial themes of race and migration, housing inequalities, war and its connection to Empire and decolonisation.

'Andrew Geoffrey Kwabena Moss proposes a manifesto for peace and convivial living, where we might dare to live in a state of 'ordinary hybrid bliss'.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Objections, Scars & Artefacts is an investigation into the material culture that has surrounded the author since childhood.

'Physical manifestations of creative energy such as fashion, architecture, tools and cuisine are observed. With a keen eye on the details of human creativity, the poet breaks down culture into its other microcultural aspects and explores connections to expressive culture (drawing on visual art, music, and literature); reflective culture (encompassing philosophy, knowledge, and belief) and societal culture (the creation and modelling of family patterns, political culture, and rituals).

'Moss also considers how he, and other marginalised voices have been objectified as targets of ‘otherness’. The poet objects to these limiting paradigms and in rich dramatic, lyrical and narrative form reverses the gaze.

'The lasting impact or scars of symbols are explored, and powerful uplifting alternatives are offered.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'High school student Norman "Zebra" Smith, half British & half Ghanaian, lives at the crossroads of race and identification

'In response to racial slurs from other students, Norman embraces hybridity and forms a Rainbow Alliance with other ethnic minority students against black & white judgements.

'Inspired to act by a colourful combination of Hip Hop, Shakespeare, his teacher Mr Neal and the US Civil Rights movement, Norman and his allies use the unlikely arena of a High School auditorium to expose the racist bully Goodwin and his henchmen.

'Choosing to own their "nicked names", Norman and his friends take centre stage, silencing their opponents and proving the power of words to unite us all.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.