'A remarkable set of essays unlike anything else' - Kadish Morris, Guardian As in her fiction, the essays in Out of the Sun demonstrate Esi Edugyan's commitment to seeking out the stories of Black lives that history has failed to record. Written with the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in the background, in five wide-ranging essays Edugyan reflects on her own identity and experiences as the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants. She delves into the history of Western Art and the truths about Black lives that it fails to reveal, and the ways contemporary Black artists are reclaiming and reimagining those lives. She explores and celebrates the legacy of Afrofuturism, the complex and problematic practice of racial passing, the place of ghosts and haunting in the imagination, and the fascinating relationship between Africa and Asia dating back to the 6th Century. With calm, piercing intelligence, and a refusal to think on anyone's terms but her own, Edugyan asks difficult questions about how we reckon with the past and imagine the future, and invites the reader to think alongside her in working out what the answers to these may be.

Two-time Booker Shortlistee and internationally bestselling author Esi Edugyan delivers a searing analysis of the relationship between race and art

About the Author
Esi Edugyan's novel Washington Black was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and The Scotiabank Giller Prize. Her previous novel, Half Blood Blues won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, the Governor-General's Literary Award, the Rogers Writers' Trust Prize and the Orange Prize.

Reviews
Stunning ... Out of the Sun provides an enlightening, multifaceted and thoroughly engrossing look at what blackness means and has meant through the centuries. * Irish Times *
A remarkable collection of essays on representation, race, identity and history. Not surprisingly, Out of the Sun is rich in stories, memory and the warmth of human experience ... gripping ... There are insights, ironies and nuances on every page: Edugyan must now be counted as one of the finest essayists of her generation, as well as one of the best novelists -- Matthew D'Ancona
In its breadth, beauty and candour, this is a beguiling collection. And if, after reading it you leave with more questions than you started - which might be a complaint in a lesser book - then I suspect it has achieved its aim -- Kuba Shand-Baptiste * Guardian *
Praise for Esi Edugyan: Wondrous ... gripping ... vivid and captivating * Economist *
Magnificent and strikingly visual prose * Financial Times *
Exquisite * New York Magazine *
Edugyan is a magical writer * Washington Post *
A towering achievement . . . Edugyan is one of our sharpest and deepest writers * Entertainment Weekly *
Strong, beautiful and beguiling * Observer *
Poignant and political, Edugyan enjoys taking her readers where they are least expecting to go . . . shines a light on the present as well as the past. * Irish Independent *
A pacey yet thoughtful exploration of freedom, and our moral compulsion to act * Spectator *



Book Information
ISBN 9781788169905
Author Esi Edugyan
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Serpent's Tail
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 440g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 142mm * 28mm