The Quiet Ear

Raymond Antrobus’s ability to open-up and share the different ways his Deaf identity has shaped his life is profoundly unique and moving. The Quiet Ear is a must-read for anyone currently on the journey to understanding their Deaf identity – Rose Ayling-EllisI’ve been a fan of Raymond’s writing since The Perseverance and The Quiet Ear sees his voice take yet another leap. Ray writes with incredible tenderness and curiosity, writing about deafness in a way that is generous, expansive and, most importantly, honest. Ray’s incredible capacity for documenting the interior is on full show here, traversing not just his griefs and losses but his hopes and joys too. This book left me transformed – Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of Open WaterAn insightful, bighearted memoir, both expansive and precise … Antrobus, author of three volumes of poetry and two children’s books, lucidly braids all of this into an effortless, often lyrical account … The Quiet Ear is a transformative story for all readers, offering an opportunity to discover the missing sounds and misunderstandings of their own experience - and begin to comprehend what it means to truly listen * The New York Times *The finest words from one of the finest poets. He gives true and new meaning to the term ‘finding his voice’ … If you want to experience what it is like to be an outsider on the inside or an insider on the outside, read The Quiet Ear. Lean in to The Quiet Ear. Listen – Lemn Sissay, author of My Name is WhySearing … In The Quiet Ear, Antrobus avoids being relegated to an object of pity … The memoir is a journey from the kind of shame that led to Antrobus masking his deafness in adolescence (growing his hair long and wearing hoods to hide his hearing aids) then finding the confidence that allowed him to compose revealing autobiographical poems. The Quiet Ear is dark and often heart-rending. But it is a testament to Antrobus’s creativity and mirrors his poetry * The Observer *A wise, intimate and questing book … with The Quiet Ear, [Antrobus] has made a book for the boy he was, but he’s also given other readers an insight into life both between cultures and between sounds * The Telegraph *I absolutely loved this book. The Quiet Ear pulses with generosity. Among other things, it offers a nuanced exploration of self in relation to sound and an entry point into the historical and contemporary richness of D/deaf culture. A tender triumph – Emma Warren, author of Dance Your Way HomeA moving and expansive book about the long journey of finding a voice, and the joy and power of using it – Seán Hewitt, author of All Down Darkness WideA powerful and important book. This expansive memoir chronicles Antrobus’ vexed journey across and between the multitudes he contains: his Jamaican heritage and his British one; his blackness and his whiteness; and, again and again, the fraught but ultimately joyful experience of living between hearing and deafness. His voice is at once blunt and lyrical, angry and curious – Andrew Leland, Pulitzer Prize-Finalist and author of The Country of the BlindThe Quiet Ear is a marvel, a story of his life as a Deaf man in a society as unjust as ours, which he investigates with clarity, honesty, endless patience and tenderness … The book is a confession, an arts poetica, a manifesto. The reader learns what it might mean to live between sound and its lack, what it is to discover and remake one’s own culture, between Britain and Jamaica, Deafness and birdsong. Which is to say: you will find here what it is to watch and be watched by our world, what it is to be a good human in a tough time, to be filled with wonder, even in the age of a crumbling empire, what it is to be a young father, an ageing son, a human being with talent for language that is memorable and clarifying. Antrobus is a terrific writer, yes, but what is more, he is an honest one – Ilya Kaminsky, National Book Award-Finalist and author of Deaf RepublicThe Quiet Ear pays homage to Antrobus’s teachers of the deaf, and sets out to show why deaf children deserve so much more support than they are currently receiving. The author describes it as “memoir as advocacy”, charting events in his own life while weaving in deaf history and a call to arms … It feels like a timely book, in an era where healthcare is in crisis and diversity and inclusion measures are under threat across the globe * The Guardian *The Quiet Ear presents a complex portrait of deafness that goes beyond living without sound. Antrobus situates his own personal story of growing up not quite Black or deaf enough within larger contexts of D/deaf culture, race, masculinity, and colonialism. Lyrical, moving and powerful – Alice Wong, author of Disability Intimacies: Essays on Love, Care and Desire and Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s LifeThe Quiet Ear is expansive, generous, and massively tender. A beautiful exploration of an interior life grappling with several magnitudes of loss, and what can be found within them – Hanif Abdurraqib, author of There’s Always This YearBeautifully complicates and expands our understanding of what deafness is… The Quiet Ear has given me new ways to think about the vibration of sound, the movement of language, and the complicated contours of shame. It is a book that changed how I will move through the world – Clint Smith, author of How the Word is Passed

The Quiet Ear is a masterclass in vulnerability, language, and the complexity of listening. With extraordinary sensitivity and precision, Raymond invites us into the intimate terrain of deafness - not as a limitation, but as a rich and nuanced way of experiencing the world. His writing is lyrical and sharply observant, pulling threads from silence, sound, and memory to weave something thought-provoking and deeply human. What sets Raymond apart is not only his poetic craft, but his unflinching honesty. He doesn’t explain deafness; he reveals it through metaphor and through anecdote, offering readers a lens both deeply personal and universally resonant. The Quiet Ear isn’t simply about hearing; it’s about perception, identity and the politics of language. Raymond doesn’t just open our ears - he opens our understanding

Raymond Antrobus is the author of three poetry titles: The Perseverance, All The Names Given and Signs, Music; and two children’s books: Can Bears Ski? And Terrible Horses. His work has won the Ted Hughes Award, the Somerset Maugham Award and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and his poems have been added to GCSE syllabi. In 2019 Raymond became the first ever poet to be awarded the Rathbones Folio Prize for best work of literature in any genre. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020 and appointed an MBE in 2021. The Quiet Ear is his first work of prose.