# A Tree for Poverty (1954): the first Somali poems and stories in English

> Margaret Laurence's A Tree for Poverty (1954): how the first English book of Somali poetry and stories was made, with Musa Galaal and Andrzejewski.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/history/a-tree-for-poverty/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## What the book is

A Tree for Poverty: Somali Poetry and Prose is a collection of Somali gabay and other poems, with folk tales and a short historical background, translated into English ([Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3027389); [49th Shelf](https://49thshelf.com/Books/A/A-Tree-for-Poverty2)). It was the first book by **Margaret Laurence** (1926 to 1987), who later became one of Canada's best-known novelists ([Margaret Laurence, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Laurence)).

## How it was made

Laurence went with her husband Jack, an engineer, to the [British Somaliland Protectorate](/en/history/british-somaliland-1884-1960/) in 1950 ([Canadian Writers Abroad](https://canadianwritersabroad.com/2012/10/22/margaret-laurence/); [Penguin Random House Canada](https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/98381/the-prophets-camel-bell-by-margaret-laurence)). She did not speak Somali. The linguist **B. W. Andrzejewski**, who had come to the Protectorate for language research, and his Somali colleague **[Musa Haji Ismail Galaal](/en/people/musa-galaal/)** gave her literal translations, and Galaal discussed the finer meanings of words with them; Laurence then wrote her own English versions ([Canadian Literature, UBC](https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/canlit/article/view/193548/189861); [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3027389)).

The book was printed in a small edition in 1954 ([Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3027389)), with Nairobi given as the place of publication in at least one citation ([African Poems](https://africanpoems.net/survival/a-war-gabay/)). Laurence later wrote a memoir of her years in the Protectorate, [The Prophet's Camel Bell](/en/books/the-prophets-camel-bell-laurence/) (1963) ([Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/prophetscamelbel0000laur_k5o8)).

## How it was received and used

The book has been cited as the first collection of Somali literature in English translation, a decade before B. W. Andrzejewski and I. M. Lewis published Somali Poetry: An Introduction (1964) ([Margaret Laurence, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Laurence); [Somali Poetry, Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/somalipoetryintr0000andr)). Literary scholars in Canada study it as the start of Laurence's writing about Africa ([Canadian Literature, UBC](https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/canlit/article/view/193548/189861)). A facsimile edition with a new preface by Laurence appeared in 1970 ([Canadian Writers Abroad](https://canadianwritersabroad.com/2012/10/22/margaret-laurence/)), and it was reissued by ECW Press in [Toronto](/en/diaspora/toronto/) in 1993 ([Blackwell's](https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/A-Tree-for-Poverty-by-Margaret-Laurence/9781550221770)).

## Where to read it

- 1993 edition: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/treeforpovertyso0000unse)
- In a library: [WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=A+Tree+for+Poverty+Laurence)

## Related pages

- [Somali poetry](/en/society/somali-poetry/)
- [Books about Somalis, 1884 to 1960](/en/history/books-about-somalis-1884-1960/)
- [Books about Somalis: every era](/en/history/books-about-somalis/)

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