Book of collected works forthcoming for Altoona English professor

ALTOONA, Pa. - The University of Nebraska Press, in collaboration with the African Poetry Book Series, will publish "I Come from A Country: The Collected Poems of Patricia Jabbeh Wesley."

The book, scheduled for publication in spring 2026, is a compilation of the complete works from Jabbeh Wesley's six collections of poetry as well as unpublished and uncollected poems.

"I am thrilled for this new publication of my work and consider it to be the most important book of my poetry writing career," said Jabbeh Wesley. "Not every poet gets the opportunity to have all of their body of works in one volume and I am grateful to the University of Nebraska Press and the African Poetry Book Series for making this possible."

The book will include poems from "Before the Palm Could Bloom: Poems of Africa" (New Issues Press, 1998), "Becoming Ebony" (SIU Press, 2003), winner of the Crab Orchard Award, "The River is Rising" (Autumn House Press, 2027; republished in 2023 by Press 53) "Where the Road Turns" (Autumn House Press, 2010), "When the Wanderers Come Home" (University of Nebraska Press, 2016), and "Praise Song for My Children: New and Selected Poems" (Autumn House Press, 2020).

The book will be published in both cloth and paper editions as well as in digital form.

Jabbeh Wesley is a professor of English at Penn State Altoona.