Cebo Campbell Books in Order

A seventeen-year-old narrator struggles to understand himself amid divorced parents, a troubled relationship with his father, and the temptations of drugs and sex. His account of adolescence examines the uncertainty of freedom and the desire to define an adult identity.

Drawing on conversations with women, Campbell combines poetry and personal reflection to examine the making of a man. Listening becomes a way to question inherited ideas about masculinity, recognize women's influence, and reconsider the assumptions shaping intimate and everyday relationships.

Poetry and reflective prose trace a man's life through the women who have shaped him. Encounters with maternal figures and other influential women become a means of examining identity, vulnerability, and the possibilities opened by listening with greater attention and empathy.

After white Americans mysteriously disappear into bodies of water, formerly imprisoned Charlie reconnects with his estranged daughter Sidney. Their journey through a transformed country leads toward Alabama, where questions of race, belonging, and personal freedom acquire unfamiliar possibilities.