In Unwritten Names: Poems on Identity and Voice, Ashley Adichie invites readers into a tender, resonant journey through the landscapes of selfhood-its beginnings, its fractures, and its continual unfolding.This collection traces the delicate arc of becoming: from the innocence of childhood to the quiet rebellions of adolescence, from the struggles of self-recognition to the triumphant claiming of voice. Each poem opens a door into the private spaces where identity forms-sometimes gently, sometimes painfully-and where the names we inherit collide with the names we long to write for ourselves.Across sixty poems arranged like stages of a living journey, Adichie explores the fluidity of identity in a world that demands certainty. Through vivid imagery, lyrical intensity, and emotional honesty, the collection captures the universal tension between who we are told to be and who we dare to become. Memory pulses through these pages: the echo of childhood gestures, the ache of lost innocence, and the taste of longing that lingers even as we grow into new versions of ourselves.At its heart, Unwritten Names is a meditation on voice-its silence, its tremors, its eventual rise. These poems honor the quiet courage of naming oneself, of stepping out from behind inherited narratives, and of embracing both the broken and the beautiful parts of one's becoming.This book is an invitation: to remember, to reflect, and to reclaim. For anyone who has ever stood at the threshold of a new self, uncertain yet hopeful, Unwritten Names speaks with clarity, compassion, and a fierce belief in the ongoing art of becoming.