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At once a lyrical love story and a localised insight into Black Britishness and the dualities of masculinity, Caleb Azumah Nelson’s Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, the work has been heralded as the most essential British debut of recent years.
The event will include a book signing of the novel’s brand new paperback edition, published by Viking/Penguin.
Caleb's audio work Under The Noise also shows as part of Current Transmissions
Caleb Azumah Nelson is a 27-year-old British-Ghanaian writer and photographer living in South East London. His photography has been shortlisted for the Palm Photo Prize and won the People's Choice prize. His short story PRAY was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2020. His first novel Open Water won the Costa First Novel prize and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize. He was selected as a National Book Foundation ‘5 under 35’ honoree by Brit Bennett in 2021.
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no. 236848.