<DIV>A mosaic of interrelated stories exploding with personality, myth, and geohistorical weight, <I>Morning in Serra Mattu</I> is a profound, joyful meditation on life in modern Sudan. Gamal seamlessly blends large-scale political realities with the local, the traditional: ?old villages/ whose ancient way is so composed/ each single blade of grass is known/ and in its place.” Epic in scope, spellbinding in its intimacy, generosity, and wisdom, <I>Morning In Serra Mattu</I> is the book we didn’t know we needed.<BR><BR>how thrilling it was in the earliest morning<br>to race barefoot down the sandy slopes and dunes<br>with all the bellowing goats<br>and dogs and sheep and other animals<br>for their first morning drink<br>and to swim in the fresh waters of the flowing river<BR><BR>while the thousand upon thousand<br>of high unhindered Nubian stars began to fall away<br>before a tinge of milky line along the hills<BR><BR>until light grew from nearly nothing<br>to an immensity<BR><BR>?from ?Return to Serra Mattu”<BR></div>