Dal Libraries is delighted to announce that the 2025-2026 book title for Dal Reads is Son of Elsewhere by Elamin Abedelmahmoud!
About Son of Elsewhere from the Publisher
From one of the most beloved media personalities of his generation comes a one-of-a-kind reflection on Blackness, faith, language, pop culture, and the challenges and rewards of finding your way in the world.
Professional wrestling super fandom, Ontario’s endlessly unfurling 401 highway, late nights at the convenience store listening to heavy metal—for writer and podcast host Elamin Abdelmahmoud, these are the building blocks of a life. Son of Elsewhere charts that life in wise, funny, and moving reflections on the many threads that weave together into an identity.
Arriving in Canada at age 12 from Sudan, Elamin’s teenage years were spent trying on new ways of being in the world, new ways of relating to his almost universally white peers. His is a story of yearning to belong in a time and place where expectation and assumptions around race, faith, language, and origin make such belonging extremely difficult, but it’s also a story of the surprising and unexpected ways in which connection and acceptance can be found.
In this extraordinary debut collection, the process of growing—of trying, failing, and trying again to fit in—is cast against the backdrop of the memory of life in a different time, and different place—a Khartoum being bombed by the United States, a nation seeking to define and understand itself against global powers of infinite reach.
Taken together, these essays explore how we pick and choose from our experience and environment to help us in the ongoing project of defining who we are—how, for instance, the example of Mo Salah, the profound grief practices of Islam, the nerdy charm of The O.C.‘s Seth Cohen, and the long shadow of colonialism can cohere into a new and powerful whole.
With the perfect balance of relatable humor and intellectual ferocity, Son of Elsewhere confronts what we know about ourselves, and most important, what we’re still learning.
Get a Copy of Son of Elsewhere
Free paperback copies of the book will be available at Dalhousie Libraries. Look for our book stations at a library near you to grab a copy.
eBook and audiobook copies are available by searching Novanet or the Libby app. To borrow materials, just log in with your NetID and password.
First time borrowing an eBook? Get more information and guidance on borrowing eBooks from Dal Libraries.
About Dal Reads
Dal Reads is the university’s unity reading program – it’s designed to encourage our Dal community to share their love of reading. Dal Reads selections are provided for free and come in ebook, audiobook, and paperback. Launched in 2009, the program brings the Dalhousie community together through the shared experience of reading the same book and taking part in programming and events.
