The Terrible

Elegant, daring, profound - confirms her abundant talent as a writer – Arifa Akbar * Observer *
Beautiful and harrowing … Daley-Ward writes with disarming honesty * Vogue *
A major literary talent … speaks about the power and powerlessness that young women are subject to in a wholly fresh, clear-eyed way … you’ll find it hard to come away from The Terrible without a stab of recognition in your chest * Stylist *
Daley-Ward explores the connection between raw emotion and the mechanics of language with more wildness and tenacity than ever * Dazed *
A rare combination of literary brilliance, originality of voice and a narrative that commands you to keep going until you’ve reached the last page … her prose is invigorating, razor-sharp and moves at the speed of light … Yrsa Daley-Ward is an explosive new talent and this book should not be missed – Anna van Praagh * Evening Standard *
The Terrible’s raw yet lilting prose draws the reader in at once. Unpredictable shifts in form and structure - from prose to poetry and script - are refreshingly disorientating. This is both a defiant book and a defiantly inventive one. – Patricia Yaker Ekall * The Times Literary Supplement *
Daley-Ward is a stylish writer, as well as an unusual voice … she has a knack for distilling wild emotions into precise imagery, for selecting insightful impressions. – Francesca Angelini * Sunday Times *
Daley-Ward’s beautiful prose wrapped its hands around my neck - I found myself doing stupid things like walking through New York at rush hour with my nose buried in her book. – Jamal Jordan * The New York Times *
The Terrible is a lyrical piece of writing that oscillates between prose and poetry … Daley-Ward’s lines land like dandelion spores, these weightless things that are somehow simultaneously profound – Una Mullally * Irish Times Magazine *
Daley-Ward has cooked a broth of dizzying emotions and touching moments down to a nuanced and taut account … there are so many flourishes of imagination and pathos here, that it’s impossible not to get caught up in the torrential pace of the narrative …the result is one of the year’s genuine must reads * Irish Independent *

Yrsa Daley-Ward is a writer, poet and actress of mixed Jamaican and Nigerian heritage. Since publishing her first poetry collection, the widely beloved bone, Yrsa has been in a constant state of exciting creative output, which earns her continued critical acclaim. Her follow-up book, the lyrical memoir The Terrible, garnered glowing praise and won her the prestigious PEN Ackerley Prize in 2019. Following that, she published The How, which NPR called “a hopeful work of meditation and healing” and has been taught in women’s prisons around the world.

Amidst all this, Yrsa continues to work and write in other areas of entertainment. In 2019, she worked closely with Beyonce to co-write Black Is King and has been adapting The Terrible for screen. As an actress, she played Grace Jones in Kwei-Armah’s latest feature film. She splits her time between Brooklyn, New York and London.

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