Fulladou Publishers Thursday released Raw Expressions, the debut poetry collection by Ebrima Jallow, known by his pen name The Ghetto Pen—a final-year law student at the University of The Gambia whose voice has become a beacon of resilience, activism, and artistic defiance.
Born and raised in Kanifing South, Ebrima Jallow’s journey is as compelling as the verses he pens. A product of May’s Nursery School, Ndow’s Comprehensive, and Nusrat Senior Secondary—where he graduated among the top students—Jallow’s academic brilliance was evident early. In 2016, he earned admission to the University of The Gambia’s law program. But his path took an unexpected detour. Financial hardship forced him to abandon his studies, thrusting him into the harsh world of ghetto survival.
As the eldest of his siblings, Jallow was burdened by the weight of family responsibilities. The streets became both his battleground and classroom. In the heart of the ghetto—an environment marked by crime, violence, and neglect—Ebrima discovered the power of language. He began to write not for applause, but for survival. It was here that The Ghetto Pen was born: a writer forged in adversity, using poetry as a sword against oppression and silence.
Raw Expressions is a piercing, unapologetic collection that tears into political deception, systemic inequality, and the crushing weight of poverty. Drawing deeply from his lived experience, Jallow crafts poems that are at once intimate and universal, angry and tender, brutal and beautiful. His words speak not only for himself, but for the countless Gambians navigating life on the margins.
“My poems are not just verses,” Jallow said at the launch. “They are the voices of ghetto youth, the cries of a generation that refuses to be erased.”
Through Fulladou Publishers, Raw Expressions is positioned not merely as a literary work, but as a political and cultural statement. It is a challenge to power, a mirror to society, and a call to action.
With this release, The Ghetto Pen cements his place as one of The Gambia’s most vital emerging voices—a poet of the people, by the people, for the people. He could be reached on 6329884.
