THE REASON I RETURNED

This fierce, tender, and courageous debut chapbook excavates into the battles fought against addiction, silence, and the heavy architecture of grief. Rukayya Bashir Kofar-Bai transforms personal trauma into stunning poetry, examining how one finds strength, survival, and fierce resilience when the world demands you stay small. Through deeply honest language grounded in Hausa cultural cadences, the author navigates the terrain of memory, claiming her truth not to fix the wounds, but to name them, breathe through them, and make space for everything she once carried alone.