Sicilian Haiku: Migrant Shadows, by Freddie Omm

We’re delighted to announce that MBB will be publishing Freddie Omm’s new book of poetry, Sicilian Haiku – Migrant Shadows, on 19 September 2024.

A collection of poems, mostly haiku, that can be read separately or together as one narrative, the book weaves through mythical and modern Sicily, with the timeless global theme of migrants at its heart.

Powerful and passionate, the book evokes the atmosphere and experience of modern Sicily, at the frontline of the unfolding tragedy of the migrancy crisis, and dives into the parallels with ancient mythology, more recent history and literature.

Writing that makes a difference: All profits will be donated to migrant support charities.

Pre-order the ebook on Amazon here.

Author Freddie Omm has lived in many parts of the world and currently lives in The Hague, The Netherlands. Find out more about him at his author’s site here.

For those interested in reviewing the book, interviewing Freddie Omm, or other enquiries, please contact publicist Ben Cameron on (+44) (0) 7903 951 957 for advance reading copies and scheduling.

More about Sicilian Haiku – Migrant Shadows:

Written mostly in haiku chains, its narrative shape is not unlike that of a novel, and it can be read like one. The poems fuse modern and mythological stories, probing a world of fractured selves, memes and monsters.

A passionate call to action, the book probes our private and public odysseys, how we share and define ourselves, how we give value to our own lives, the lives of others, and our planet. Set in Sicily, it’s a mix of many stories—migrants meet tourists, junkies and cannibals, while gods and goddesses mate with mortals, and it’s hard to separate consumers from the consumed.

Photographs of Sicily by Freddie Oomkens intersperse the text and visually highlight its themes.

Sicilian Haiku – Migrant Shadows is the first in an extended series of multi-genre books, The Dark Gospel. The next–a thriller, The Trashman – will be published in 2025.

About the Author
Freddie Omm has lived in Holland, Indonesia, the USA, Italy, the UK and Germany—a lifelong migrant and expatriate, a native of nowhere who’s written all over the world. His writings explore the edge of identity: his first novel, “Honour”, is a dark comic thriller about how people in diverse cultures—east, west, multi and between—are driven and damaged by different conceptions of right living and honour.
In addition to The Dark Gospel series, he’s also working on several extended sequences of poems, including the Ukrainian-themed along came a war, with Kiev-based Ukrainian photographer Bogdana Bunn, with all profits going to support Ukraine, and archipelagoes (memories of Java)” focussing on his childhood and his family’s past in Indonesia.
Sicilian Haiku: Migrant Shadows will be available in paperback and ebook at all good bookshops and online booksellers.