The First Book: A Furious Flower Fellow Reflects on His Debut

On September 1st, 2025, accompanied by the tender sounds of a violin, Furious Flower Post-Doc Fellow Dr. Gbenga Adesina read his work in a room surrounded by his beloved colleagues and friends before being presented with his favorite, red velvet cake, complete with a miniature book cover of Death Does Not End at the Sea carefully displayed atop the icing. 

Before the nominations and the book tours, before his book became his publisher’s best seller, there was only this moment, with one visitor after another offering congratulations and purchasing the first copies of his debut poetry collection. “The book had not won anything. It was just coming out, and our space was filled to the brim,” Adesina remembers.  Now, four months later, he reflects on the launch and following success of his book. 

Published by the University of Nebraska Press and winner of their prestigious Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry, the book is written in the wake of his father’s passing.  Death Does Not End at the Sea is a collection that weaves together the complexities of migration, borders, bodies, and grief. With increasing accolades, one might think that this is a poetry book meant only for poets, but Dr. Adesina takes pride in the accessibility of his work. “What I love most about the book is that I was able to braid it together in a way that makes people say ‘oh, I get this.’”   

He said he hopes that people read the book and realize that death is not the end, “Grief has its own intelligence, and it expresses itself in different ways. Sometimes it’s laughter, sometimes it’s tears, sometimes it’s joy, sometimes it’s sorrow, sometimes it’s pleasure, and it’s all grief.”

To date, the book has been longlisted for the National Book Award and nominated for the 2025 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry.  Despite the book tours, the multiple nominations, the successful sales, when asked to pick the highest point ofit all, Gbenga still looks back on the book release party, “It was just pure love. Community. I felt sentalongside my book into the world with such goodwill.” 

You can purchase a copy of Death Does Not End at the Sea from Amazon, Nebraska Press, or wherever books are sold.