Looking for Livingstone: An Odyssey of Silence

A woman, travelling alone through time, Africa, and unnamed lands, searches for Dr. David Livingstone, celebrated by the West as a “discoverer” of Africa. Throughout her quest, for knowledge and for Livingstone, the traveller visits many peoples, listens to their stories and their silences, and learns about their Silence. Suspense, parables, and dreams play major parts in the story as it twists and turns toward the traveller’s confrontation with Livingstone-I-presume. Looking for Livingstone explodes Western assumptions about the “silence” of indigenous peoples; this is an elegant and compelling novel which beautifully gives voice to the ancestors to whom it is dedicated.

First published in 1991 by The Mercury Press, this new edition features an introduction by the author and an afterword by Michael Nardone.

m. nourbeSe philip is a renowned poet, essayist, and playwright, and practiced law for seven years before becoming a writer. She received the 2020 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, as well as the 2021 Molson Prize, the Canada Council for the Arts’ lifetime achievement award, for her “invaluable contributions to literature.” Born in Tobago, she lives in Toronto.

Michael Nardone is a poet and editor based in Montréal. His recent works include: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Border Tuner | Sintonizador Fronterizo (2026), Convivialities: Dialogues on Poetics (2025), and Aural Poetics (2023).