{"title":"Books by Teju Cole","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780571279432","title":"Open City","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe bestselling debut novel from a writer heralded as the twenty-first-century W. G. Sebald.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA haunting novel about national identity, race, liberty, loss and surrender, \u003ci\u003eOpen City\u003c\/i\u003e follows a young Nigerian doctor as he wanders aimlessly along the streets of Manhattan. For Julius the walks are a release from the tight regulations of work, from the emotional fallout of a failed relationship, from lives past and present on either side of the Atlantic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIsolated amid crowds of bustling strangers, Julius criss-crosses not just physical landscapes but social boundaries too, encountering people whose otherness sheds light on his own remarkable journey from Nigeria to New York - as well as into the most unrecognisable facets of his own soul.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201751089330,"sku":"9780571279432","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571279432.jpg?v=1786014195"},{"product_id":"9780571283361","title":"Tremor","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLife is hopeless but it is not serious. We have to have danced while we could and, later, to have danced again in the telling.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTunde, the man at the centre of this novel, reflects on the places and times of his life, from his West African upbringing to his current work as a teacher of photography on a renowned New England campus. He is a reader, a listener, and a traveller drawn to many different kinds of stories: from history and the epic; of friends, family, and strangers; those found in books and films. One man’s personal lens refracts entire worlds, and back again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA weekend spent shopping for antiques is shadowed by the colonial atrocities that occurred on that land. A walk at dusk is interrupted by casual racism. A loving marriage is riven by mysterious tensions. And a remarkable cascade of voices speak out from a pulsing metropolis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eTremor\u003c\/i\u003e is a startling work of realism and invention that examines the passage of time and how we mark it. It is a reckoning with human survival amidst “history’s own brutality, which refuses symmetries and seldom consoles” – but it is also a testament to the possibility of joy. This is narration with all its senses alert, a surprising and deeply essential work from a beacon of contemporary literature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eOpen City\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'\u003ci\u003eOpen City\u003c\/i\u003e is not a loud novel, nor a thriller, nor a nail-biter. What it \u003ci\u003eis\u003c\/i\u003e is a gorgeous, crystalline, and cumulative investigation of memory, identity, and erasure. It gathers its power inexorably, page by page, and ultimately reveals itself as nothing less than a searing tour de force. \u003cb\u003eTeju Cole might just be a W. G. Sebald for the twenty-first century.\u003c\/b\u003e'\u003cbr\u003eAnthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eAll the Light We Cannot See\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'\u003cb\u003eBeautiful, subtle, and finally, original\u003c\/b\u003e...'\u003cbr\u003eJames Wood, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44583378682034,"sku":"9780571283361","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571283361_afe97b10-2774-4f6a-9c8f-4abc5e8d84a8.jpg?v=1786014498"},{"product_id":"9780226641355","title":"Black Paper – Writing in a Dark Time","description":"A profound book of essays from a celebrated master of the form.    “Darkness is not empty,” writes Teju Cole in Black Paper, a book that meditates on what it means to sustain our humanity—and witness the humanity of others—in a time of darkness. One of the most celebrated essayists of his generation, Cole here plays variations on the essay form, modeling ways to attend to experience—not just to take in but to think critically about what we sense and what we don’t.    Wide-ranging but thematically unified, the essays address ethical questions about what it means to be human and what it means to bear witness, recognizing how our individual present is informed by a collective past. Cole’s writings in Black Paper approach the fractured moment of our history through a constellation of interrelated concerns: confrontation with unsettling art, elegies both public and private, the defense of writing in a time of political upheaval, the role of the color black in the visual arts, the use of shadow in photography, and the links between literature and activism. Throughout, Cole gives us intriguing new ways of thinking about blackness and its numerous connotations. As he describes the carbon-copy process in his epilogue: “Writing on the top white sheet would transfer the carbon from the black paper onto the bottom white sheet. Black transported the meaning.”","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685852684661,"sku":"9780226823867","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56227383378293,"sku":"9780226641355","price":21.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780226823867.jpg?v=1792599065"},{"product_id":"9780571328062","title":"Known and Strange Things","description":"\u003cp\u003eShortlisted for the PEN\/Jean Stein Book Award and the PEN\/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA blazingly intelligent first collection of essays from the award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eOpen City\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eEvery Day Is for the Thief.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith these pieces on politics, photography, travel, history and literature, Teju Cole solidifies his place as one of today’s most powerful and original voices, covering subjects as diverse as Virginia Woolf, W.G Sebald, Instagram, Barack Obama and Boko Haram. Persuasive and provocative, erudite yet accessible, \u003ci\u003eKnown and Strange Things\u003c\/i\u003e is an opportunity to live within Teju Cole’s wide-ranging enthusiasms, curiosities and passions, and a chance to see the world in surprising and affecting new frames.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56292262379893,"sku":"9780571328062","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571328062_8d8afcbc-32cf-40c9-9188-01021ab433f4.jpg?v=1786014945"},{"product_id":"9780571335015","title":"Blind Spot","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe shadow of a tree in upstate New York. A hotel room in Switzerland. A young stranger in the Congo.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eBlind Spot\u003c\/i\u003e, readers will follow Teju Cole's inimitable artistic vision into the visual realm, as he continues to refine the voice and intellectual obsessions that earned him such acclaim for \u003ci\u003eOpen Cit\u003c\/i\u003ey. In more than 150 pairs of images and surprising, lyrical text, Cole explores his complex relationship to the visual world through his two great passions: writing and photography.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBlind Spot\u003c\/i\u003e is a testament to the art of seeing by one of the most powerful and original voices in contemporary literature.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56292690035061,"sku":"9780571335015","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571335015_24d48539-dcfc-4e3a-a022-ad61b7671ccf.jpg?v=1786015116"},{"product_id":"9781408884980","title":"This Is Not a Border","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'This anthology will help turn your intellectual understanding of oppression into an emotional one'\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003e- New Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Thanks for being who you are and for giving us such exposure to wonderful people. Palestine is proud of you'\u003c\/b\u003e - Suad Amiry\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008. Bringing together writers from all corners of the globe, it aims to help Palestinians break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen their artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, ‘the power of culture over the culture of power’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCelebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, \u003ci\u003eThis Is Not a Border \u003c\/i\u003eis a collection of essays, poems and stories from some of the world’s most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and courage in the most desperate of situations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eContributors: \u003c\/b\u003eSusan Abulhawa, Suad Amiry, Victoria Brittain, Jehan Bseiso, Teju Cole, Molly Crabapple, Selma Dabbagh, Mahmoud Darwish, Najwan Darwish, Geoff Dyer, Yasmin El-Rifae, Adam Foulds, Ru Freeman, Omar Robert Hamilton, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Mohammed Hanif, Jeremy Harding, Rachel Holmes, John Horner, Remi Kanazi, Brigid Keenan, Mercedes Kemp, Omar El-Khairy, Nancy Kricorian, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jamal Mahjoub, Henning Mankell, Claire Messud, China Miéville, Pankaj Mishra, Deborah Moggach, Muiz, Maath Musleh, Michael Palin, Ed Pavlic, Atef Abu Saif, Kamila Shamsie, Raja Shehadeh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Linda Spalding, Will Sutcliffe, Alice Walker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith messages from China Achebe, Michael Ondaatje and J. M. Coetzee\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Every literary act, whether it is a great epic poem or an honest piece of journalism or a simple nonsense tale for children is a blow against the forces of stupidity and ignorance and darkness … The Palestine Festival of Literature exists to do just that – and I salute it for its work. Not only this year but for as long as it is necessary' \u003c\/b\u003e- Philip Pullman\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298883907957,"sku":"9781408884980","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781408884980_dddd756a-b06b-440f-9438-652ffd3025b3.jpg?v=1786034446"},{"product_id":"9781644230152","title":"Kerry James Marshall","description":"\u003cb\u003eKerry James Marshall is one of America’s greatest living painters. \u003ci\u003eHistory of Painting\u003c\/i\u003e presents a groundbreaking body of new work that engages with the history of the medium itself.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eHistory of Painting\u003c\/i\u003e, the artist has widened his scope to include both figurative and nonfigurative works that deal explicitly with art history, race, and gender, as well as force us to reexamine how artworks are received in the world and in the art market. In the paintings in this book, Marshall’s critique of history and of dominant white narratives is present, even as the subjects of the paintings move between reproductions of auction catalogues, abstract works, and scenes of everyday life. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eEssays by Teju Cole and Hal Foster help readers navigate the artist’s masterful vision, decoding complexly layered works such as \u003ci\u003eUntitled\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003e(Underpainting)\u003c\/i\u003e (2018) and Marshall’s own artistic philosophy. This catalogue is published on the occasion of Marshall’s eponymous exhibition at David Zwirner, London, in 2018.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305000350069,"sku":"9781644230152","price":50.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781644230152_9d262b32-0a00-4fa6-aeff-0e9fd5721171.jpg?v=1786024340"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-teju-cole.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}