Coin from Nisi Shawl's Everfair

[laurieopal]

I’m writing today to try to chill after yesterday’ s infamy. (I am delighted about Georgia, and had made lots of phone calls for the Senate race.)

I recently had a good talk with Nisi Shawl about the coin pendant I’m making for her from her book Everfair. The book is _remarkably_ good. Quote below is from Amal El-Mohar’s review on NPR.

“The scope and ambition of this book is immense. Shawl has marshalled a wealth of research in imagining, not only an alternate history for the Congo, but a cascading sequence of consequences for global politics in its wake. The cast of characters is beautifully diverse in terms of faith, ability, ethnicity, sexual orientation and nationalities, making the web of relationships intricate and fraught.”

She is currently writing a sequel to Everfair - “ Kinning”

The coin will have a Shongo, an African weapon, on one side and a grey hooded gull on the other. The gull is one that might be found on the Congo’s large lakes.
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Shongo

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Grey Hooded Gull

 

Thanks to Martha Harbison for the information on the gull. (The gull on the coin will be in flight.)

The coin will be dated 1923 and will have written on it “Everfair my home”.

I’ve been working on the design for a while but after our conversation, I can concentrate on another level.