“When I felt tears streaming down, I wiped my eyes and repeated to myself what I heard the adults say, that the tears of a man flow inward.“ The Church’s July writer-in-residence is author Pacifique Irankunda who will speak on his work, The Tears of a Man Flow Inward: Growing Up in the Civil War in Burundi, published by Random House in March of 2022.
Written in lyrical prose, The Tears of a Man Flow Inward draws on Irankunda’s childhood memories and those of his family during the thirteen-year civil war in his native country of Burundi. As a young boy, Irankunda hid in the tall grass from military units as his young eyes watched the grueling warfare destroy his home, upend his family, and devastate his country’s beautiful culture. Through Irankunda’s song-like writing, readers are given a rare look into what it means to come of age in dark times, and how light can be found even in the midst of violence. Following Irankunda’s reading/discussion will be a Q&A and book signing. On Saturday, July 22nd, Irankunda joins the roster of writers for Word: On Transformation. More info on that program here.
ABOUT PACIFIQUE IRANKUNDA
Pacifique Irankunda was born in Burundi, a small country in East Africa. He came to America at the age of nineteen as a scholarship student at Deerfield Academy in western Massachusetts. His first published work, “Playing at Violence,” appeared in The American Scholar and won a Pushcart Prize.
