Turn Where
A Geography of Home
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Turn Where
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Chet'la Sebree
About this listen
Where do I belong in a country that has never loved me? What does it mean to be an American?
Lauded poet and essayist Chet’la Sebree interrogates these questions as she traverses an America that has always had a fraught relationship with its Black citizens. Her journey takes her from the shores of the Atlantic to the prairies of the Midwest, to the forests of the Pacific Northwest, abroad, and then back again. Through these shifting landscapes, Sebree seamlessly weaves memoir with history and cultural criticism in a collection of essays bound by themes of movement, home, inheritance, and belonging.
Growing up in a family that would pile into the car for lengthy excursions, Sebree has always loved to travel. Once she left her parents' home in Delaware, she rarely kept an address for more than two years and was more comfortable with a suitcase and an itinerary than the idea of a mortgage and stillness of settling down. Her life as a writer, scholar, poet, and professor fed her hunger for exploration domestically and internationally while staving off the pang that she never quite felt at home anywhere. That latter fact became increasingly unsettling as she desired to put down roots—both for herself, and for the child she began to consider bringing into the world as a single mother.
Building on the work of scholars like Saidiya Hartman and Imani Perry, Sebree navigates her relationship to a place that was not made for her to survive, let alone thrive, as she dreams of new futures. In exploring this fracture, Sebree carves out space of her own through clear-eyed observations and fearless revelations.
Critic reviews
“In Chet’la Sebree’s sensitive and tender hands, this book’s quest (and question) of home is captivating. An intimate rendering of the life of a Black woman artist, in these pages genealogy is a journey, the heart is a map, and family is essential even when uncertain. . . . Insightful, vulnerable, layered, and full of love.”—Imani Perry, National Book Award winner and author of Black in Blues
“An exquisitely observed and multifaceted collection of essays . . . This is the sort of book that invites the reader to share with loved ones, compare notes, and read again.”—Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of The American Daughters
“With a poet’s precision and care, Sebree has crafted an intricate map of one woman’s search for home. . . . A breathtaking essay collection that remains deeply rooted in history while forging ahead into the uncertain future.”—Lilly Dancyger, author of First Love
“Chet’la Sebree continues in the lineage of Dionne Brand, Katherine McKittrick, and Saidiya Hartman to trace and retrace home through language. . . . Turn (W)here charts new territory.”—Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, author of Magical/Realism
“A hearty feast for those of us at midlife starved for direction.”—Minda Honey, author of The Heartbreak Years
“An expansive topography of home through history, cultural criticism, and lived experience . . . Sebree writes beautifully about belonging and becoming, and how wanderlust is a crucial part of the equation.”—Michele Filgate, editor of What My Father and I Don’t Talk About
“An exquisitely observed and multifaceted collection of essays . . . This is the sort of book that invites the reader to share with loved ones, compare notes, and read again.”—Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of The American Daughters
“With a poet’s precision and care, Sebree has crafted an intricate map of one woman’s search for home. . . . A breathtaking essay collection that remains deeply rooted in history while forging ahead into the uncertain future.”—Lilly Dancyger, author of First Love
“Chet’la Sebree continues in the lineage of Dionne Brand, Katherine McKittrick, and Saidiya Hartman to trace and retrace home through language. . . . Turn (W)here charts new territory.”—Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, author of Magical/Realism
“A hearty feast for those of us at midlife starved for direction.”—Minda Honey, author of The Heartbreak Years
“An expansive topography of home through history, cultural criticism, and lived experience . . . Sebree writes beautifully about belonging and becoming, and how wanderlust is a crucial part of the equation.”—Michele Filgate, editor of What My Father and I Don’t Talk About
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