Reviewed by Brian Kanda
Conversations in a Cafe’: Coffee Poems
by Nadia Janice Brown
ASIN: B0HBVSLY8W, 65 pages, ISBN-13: 979-8187648702, July 2026
Conversations In A Café by Nadia Janice Brown is not just an average poetry book but a perfect illustration of the ‘everyday’ from a poet’s perspective. Despite being a collection of poems, reading the book felt as though I were immersed in a griot’s world, listening to and watching them narrate relationships, love, hate, life, loss, among many other issues that characterize a woman’s life. It almost felt as though I were reading a journal whose author had detailed her life, albeit in a poetic style, yet still allowed me to visualize her experiences in each line.
My favorite poem is “Life Is A Collection Of Verses” for its metaphorical description of life. It shows how everything begins with a small, often insignificant moment and grows into something beautiful and meaningful, similar to how poems begin with single words, then lines, and finally stanzas. Additionally, it shows that we may know what we want but fail to envision how to achieve it. This demonstrates that success in life is a journey rather than just a destination.
Despite being a collection of poems, the book doesn’t sound monotonous and is full of various themes and styles, which Brown has complemented with quotes and images in several instances. These intertextual elements did not just come off as random ways to break from the poems but relevantly complemented the book’s overall theme. My reading experience hence became more engaging, and I found myself connecting more deeply with the messages and emotions conveyed in the poems. For the most part, the quotes allowed me to see the poems in a new light and appreciate the depth of thought put into each piece.
I loved that the persona used different points of view in different poems, alternating between first-, second-, and third-person. For example, each time she shifted to second person, as in the poem “All Too Well”, to address the reader directly, Nadia was able to create a sense of intimacy between the reader and the persona. When the persona was presented from a third-person omniscient perspective, Nadia offered a more distant perspective on the poem’s topic, helping readers think more deeply about the feelings and experiences being shared.
This book has been exceptionally edited and well-formatted for effortless reading. I recommend it to anyone looking for a poetry collection that offers a window into reflecting on their emotions and experiences. Despite being personal anecdotes of Brown’s life, the subjects are relatable to all readers, owing to the universality of some of her experiences. Authors and poets will particularly appreciate the depth and vulnerability found in Brown’s writing. In some poems, she describes how writer’s block can stop one from writing and suggests ways to overcome it. There is nothing to dislike about this book, which merits the maximum rating of five stars for its relatable content and inspiring message.
About the reviewer: Brian Kanda is a trained teacher of English & literature and a researcher whose interests are in critical theory and postcolonial African literature. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Ethnic and African Studies at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil.