9781399619684
From award-winning poet, educator, artist and 2026 Booker Prize judge, a groundbreaking memoir about family, identity, history and language.
'A big-hearted, transformative memoir' New York Times 'A quiet revolution' Irish Times'Searing . . . often heart-rending' GuardianRaymond Antrobus was diagnosed as deaf at the age of six. He discovered he had missing sounds - bird calls, whistles, kettles, alarms. Teachers thought he was slow and disruptive, some didn't believe he was deaf at all.
The Quiet Ear tells his story - from childhood to fatherhood - and the stories of other D/deaf cultural figures, from painters to silent film stars, poets to performers - the inspiring models of D/deaf creativity Antrobus did not have growing up.
Told with the electrifying prose of a poet, this groundbreaking and moving memoir explores family, identity, history and language, and what it means to be in a world saturated with noise.
A TIME BOOK OF THE YEAR'Should force readers to pause and reflect' Independent'Wise, intimate and questing' Telegraph 'Read this book' Lemn Sissay 'An essential education' Safiya Sinclair 'Important, honest, eye-opening and beautifully written' Bernardine Evaristo 'A must read' Rose Ayling-Ellis 'A modern classic' Roger Robinson 'Changed the way I will move through the world' Clint Smith