The Strangers

“Thrilling and ingenious, propulsive and genre-defying: The Strangers is an outstanding book. Ekow Eshun resurrects five pioneering figures, connecting them thematically to each other while constantly recalibrating the contexts around them, revealing wider global histories, cultures and patterns of power. Compelling and imaginatively expansive, this is something very special - creative non-fiction that inspires, stirs and challenges the reader” – Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

“Moving, thoughtful, redemptive. The Strangers is an important book. It will become a Black classic.” – Ben Okri, author of The Famished Road

“This book is astounding. Told with a rigor and intimacy that only Ekow Eshun could conjure … In a world where Blackness is synonymous with death, The Strangers portrays scenes of beauty, of fullness–of just what it means to be alive” – Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of Open Water

“An agile group biography of five remarkable figures in world history….British writer and curator Eshun delivers engaging lives of five Black men who each ‘strove to reach beyond the constraints of race to assert himself as fully human, fully alive….Eshun examines these men with an eye toward placing them, in Toni Morrison’s formulation, as subjects and not objects of history, ‘to move from looking at the Black male figure to seeing as him.’…An inventive approach to Black lives that brings five–and many more–figures out of the shadows.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Elegant, evocative, moving - I think it’s brilliant. I’ve never read a book like it and I’m wiser for reading it” – Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read

“The Strangers is diamantine–multifaceted, sharp and exceptionally bright. I was captivated by its vivid depiction of these five Black lives.” – Doireann Ní Ghríofa, author of A Ghost in the Throat

“Wholly unique and important, written with great compassion and intelligence in Ekow Eshun’s singular, arresting style. He says things that need to be said, with a sweeping eye on history and its impact on our present.” – Diana Evans, author of Ordinary People

“Ekow Eshun is a genius. He holds a torch where institutions have refused to look and helps us all to see through shadows to the magnificent strangers. His writings on the Black aesthetic are unsurpassed–and my world is a better place because he is writing in it. This book will be referenced for years to come.” – Lemn Sissay, author of My Name is Why

“A beautifully written, haunting exploration of Black masculinity that pushes the boundaries of genre: part biography, part fiction, part essay, part historical record, woven together seamlessly to produce an original, rich and compelling narrative. It provides a vital insight into the importance of Black contributions to Western culture–contributions that have so often been denied. I can’t praise The Strangers highly enough: its impact remains long after the final pages and it deserves to be widely read.” – Jacqueline Roy, author of The Fat Lady Sings

“Beautiful, powerful and haunting, this book defies erasure with imagination and integrity” – Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)

“This book is life-changing. I want to press it into so many hands” – Noreen Masud, author of A Flat Place

“The architecture of this book is extraordinary, the execution exceptional. A work of literary portraiture which is meticulously researched, beautifully expressed and above all moving and evocative. I was educated and enriched to the very last page” – Charlotte Williams, author of Sugar and Slate

“Unputdownable and fiercely tender - through these five men, five masks, five mirrors, we meet ourselves. This act of docu-poetry should be required reading for all” – Es Devlin, award-winning artist and stage designer

Ekow Eshun is a British writer, curator, broadcaster, and author of the memoir Black Gold of the Sun, which was nominated for the Orwell Prize for its exploration of race and identity. He writes for the New York Times, the Financial Times, and The Guardian, and has created documentaries for BBC TV and radio. Eshun was the first Black editor of a major magazine in the UK and the first Black director of a major arts organization and has curated exhibitions internationally. Described by Vogue as ‘the most inspired–and inspiring–curator in Britain’, he is Chairman of the Fourth Plinth, overseeing Britain’s foremost public art program. He lives in London.