Author Biography

Takwa (Tee) Gordon is a Somali-American writer, editor, and social worker. She holds an MA in English and minors in comparative literature and literacy. She enjoys painting, running, reading, and kayaking. She currently lives in Ogden, Utah with her family.

Review

Takwa Gordon's Body Talk is an artistic, poignant portrait of vulnerability, self love, and survival. Takwa not only takes you on her personal journey, but she also challenges the reader to look deep within their own mind and body. She reminds us all that the body really does communicate if only you can learn to listen to it. Her book will help you finally learn how. It is an essential read for anyone with a body. That is to say, it is a must read for everyone.-Aitch Alexandarauthor of My Body is a Junkyard
I believe that the goal of poetry and prose should be not to impress with rhyme and wordplay but to punch the reader square in the face, and to challenge their perceptions by giving them the opportunity to see the world through someone else's eyes. When it's done well, this kind of writing has the power to transform, and Takwa Gordon's Body Talk does just that. It is at once an unflinching study of abuse and trauma, an illuminating meditation on the impact of racism and religious bigotry, and an uplifting chronicle of recovery and empowerment.-Vince FontAuthor and Owner/Editor of Glass Spider Publishing
In her hybrid memoir, Body Talk, Somali-American writer Takwa Gordon recounts her burning personal experiences in the diaspora and back home. Gruesome episodes of childhood and grisly amounts of adulthood experienced in Africa and America are painfully presented both in prose and poetry to arbitrate a past Self with a present Self. Anyone who has experienced armed conflicts in Africa or elsewhere may benefit from reading this memoir. The themes and issues (like the body and its memories) dramatized inwardly and outwardly by Takwa are the same and similar to those commonly encountered on a daily basis by everyone who fled from war.-Mohamed Haji IngiriisAuthor of The Suicidal State in Somalia
Takwa Gordon's hybrid memoir seethes with raw pain that is both palpable and anguished. Yet the words she employs are measured, balanced, forward-looking. These are words that are not designed to draw blood, but to cure, mend, and heal impaled bodies and broken spirits. Gordon's aim is to reconcile with herself, allowing her to move forward. The memoir is framed by an African adage: Life is in trust with you; run, run for your life. The kind of running implied here is not hamstrung by fear and confusion; rather, it wrestles with life's vagaries and vicissitudes. The memoir also attests to the veracity of a Somali adage: Elegy is the voice of the survivor. Here is a voice that exudes a zest for life imbued by exuberant hope.-Ali Jimale AhmedQueens College, CUNY
Witness Takwa Gordon turn suffering into resilience. "You are growing in ways that you just don't understand right now," she says. She has earned our trust by eschewing toxic positivity and reclaiming her own power from a world of the saved and the saviors. Sit through the storms in her honest company. Be refreshed by her friendship in the fierceness of this weather. Takwa insists that we can choose not to be fractured by it. Our wholeness is inherent. A love radical enough to include ourselves, her first and last lesson.-Nan SeymourPoet and Founder of River Writing

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