Virtual gathering

Join in the Smart Museum of Art’s virtual book club! 

The Smart Reads series continues in April with Home is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo. We invite you to read along with us and engage in a thought-provoking conversation with host Dorian H. Nash. 

FREE. To help build a community of participants, capacity is limited and advanced registration is required. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo

From the  acclaimed poet featured on Forbes Africa’s “30 Under 30” list, this powerful novel-in-verse captures one girl, caught between cultures, on an unexpected journey to face the ephemeral girl she might have been. Woven through with moments of lyrical beauty, this is a tender meditation on family, belonging, and home.

my mother meant to name me     for her favorite flower
its sweetness     garlands made     for pretty girls
i imagine her    yasmeen     bright & alive
& i ache to have been born her     instead

Nima wishes she were someone else. She doesn’t feel understood by her mother, who grew up in a different land. She doesn’t feel accepted in her suburban town; yet somehow, she isn’t different enough to belong elsewhere. Her best friend, Haitham, is the only person with whom she can truly be herself. Until she can’t, and suddenly her only refuge is gone.

As the ground is pulled out from under her, Nima must grapple with the phantom of a life not chosen—the name her parents meant to give her at birth—Yasmeen. But that other name, that other girl, might be more real than Nima knows.  And the life Nima wishes were someone else’s. . . is one she will need to fight for with a fierceness she never knew she possessed.

2023 SMART READS SCHEDULE

January 25, 6–7:30 pm
The Theater and its Double by Antonin Artaud

February 22, 6–7:30 pm
Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis

March 29, 6–7:30 pm
Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

April 26, 6–7:30 pm
Home is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo

May 31, 6–7:30 pm
Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong 

June 28, 6–7:30 pm
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

July 26, 6–7:30 pm
The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto

August 23, 6–7:30 pm
We Do This 'Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba 

September 27, 6–7:30 pm
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez 

October 25, 6–7:30 pm
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

November 29, 6–7:30 pm
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

December 6, 6–7:30 pm
Year in books recap and reflection