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'Sosina Wogayehu learnt to do flips and splits at the age of six, sitting on the floor of her parents’ lounge room in Addis Ababa, watching a German variety show on the only television channel in the land. She sold cigarettes on the streets at the age of eight, and played table soccer with her friends who made money from washing cars, barefoot in the dust. She dreamed of being a circus performer.
'Twenty-five years later, Sosina has conjured herself a new life in a far-off country: Australia. She has rescued one brother and lost another. She has travelled the world as a professional contortionist. She can bounce-juggle eight balls on a block of marble.
'Sosina is able to juggle worlds and stories, too, and by luck — which is something Sosina is not short of — she has a friend, David Carlin, who is a writer.
'Following his acclaimed memoir Our Father Who Wasn’t There, David brings us his ‘not-me’ book, travelling to Addis Ababa where he discovers ways of living so different to his own and confronts his Western fantasies and fears. Through Sosina’s story he shows us that, with risk and enough momentum, life — whom we befriend, where we end up, how we come to see ourselves — is never predictable.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: For Linda and Melaku, Esther, Louis, Raeey and Kidus
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Review : The Abyssinian Contortionist
2015
single work
— Appears in: Good Reading , September 2015; (p. 58)
— Review of The Abyssinian Contortionist : Hope, Friendship and Other Circus Acts 2015 single work biography -
It’s Been a Big Life So Far : Cate Kennedy Launches the ‘The Abyssinian Contortionist’ by David Carlin
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , April - June no. 14 2015;
— Review of The Abyssinian Contortionist : Hope, Friendship and Other Circus Acts 2015 single work biography -
David Carlin : The Abyssinian Contortionist
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , June 2015;
— Review of The Abyssinian Contortionist : Hope, Friendship and Other Circus Acts 2015 single work biography -
Real-life Feats of Derring-Do
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 2-3 May 2015; (p. 21)
— Review of The Abyssinian Contortionist : Hope, Friendship and Other Circus Acts 2015 single work biography -
Well Read
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 21 March 2015; (p. 22)
— Review of Bad Behaviour : A Memoir of Bullying and Boarding School 2015 single work autobiography ; The Abyssinian Contortionist : Hope, Friendship and Other Circus Acts 2015 single work biography
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Well Read
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 21 March 2015; (p. 22)
— Review of Bad Behaviour : A Memoir of Bullying and Boarding School 2015 single work autobiography ; The Abyssinian Contortionist : Hope, Friendship and Other Circus Acts 2015 single work biography -
Real-life Feats of Derring-Do
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 2-3 May 2015; (p. 21)
— Review of The Abyssinian Contortionist : Hope, Friendship and Other Circus Acts 2015 single work biography -
David Carlin : The Abyssinian Contortionist
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , June 2015;
— Review of The Abyssinian Contortionist : Hope, Friendship and Other Circus Acts 2015 single work biography -
It’s Been a Big Life So Far : Cate Kennedy Launches the ‘The Abyssinian Contortionist’ by David Carlin
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , April - June no. 14 2015;
— Review of The Abyssinian Contortionist : Hope, Friendship and Other Circus Acts 2015 single work biography -
Review : The Abyssinian Contortionist
2015
single work
— Appears in: Good Reading , September 2015; (p. 58)
— Review of The Abyssinian Contortionist : Hope, Friendship and Other Circus Acts 2015 single work biography
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Addis Ababa,
cEthiopia,cNorth Africa, Africa,