The Freedom Artist - Softcover

Okri, Ben

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1617757926 ISBN 13: 9781617757921

Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd., 2020

Synopsis

"Where fiction's master of enchantments stares down a real horror, and without blinking or flinching, produces a work of beauty, grace, and uncommon power."
--Marlon James, author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Included in Publishers Weekly's Science Fiction and Fantasy Preview for 2019-2020!

Included in Publishers Weekly's Science Fiction and Fantasy Preview for 2019-2020 (African Diaspora–inspired SFF)!

"The Freedom Artist represents a heady jumble of influence and inspiration, a tapestry of biblical reference, mythology, folklore and fable. The lyrical simplicity of Okri's prose, with its short sentences and chapters, only heightens the power of the novel's political message."
--Financial Times

"A multilayered allegorical narrative that cuts to the heart of our current political and cultural malaise, while maintaining a mythical, mesmeric flavor that makes the reader feel these are stories they have always known...It's savagely political, disturbing and fiercely optimistic, the deeply felt work of a writer who refuses to stop asking the hardest questions."
--Guardian (UK)

"Just as you're thinking, 'So this is what Dave Eggers's The Circle would be like if it were written by a poet,' Okri slips you a shot of ayahuasca and things get decidedly freaky and apocalyptic...A beautiful and timely appeal for the importance of books, subversive stories and love."
--The Times (UK)

In a world uncomfortably like our own, a young woman called Amalantis is arrested for asking a question. Her question is this: Who is the Prisoner?

When Amalantis disappears, her lover Karnak goes looking for her. He searches desperately at first, then with a growing realization that to find Amalantis, he must first understand the meaning of her question.

Karnak's search leads him into a terrifying world of lies, oppression, and fear at the heart of which lies the Prison. Then Karnak discovers that he is not the only one looking for the truth.

The Freedom Artist is an impassioned plea for justice and a penetrating examination of how freedom is threatened in a post-truth society. In Ben Okri's most significant novel since the Booker Prize–winning The Famished Road, he delivers a powerful and haunting call to arms.

About this title

About the Author:

Ben Okri was born in Minna, Nigeria. His childhood was divided between Nigeria, where he saw firsthand the consequences of war, and London. He has won many prizes over the years for his fiction, and is also an acclaimed essayist, playwright, and poet.

Review:

"A meditation on the threat to freedom represented by the emergence of what is already called 'a post-truth society.' It's a novel for our times."
--Scotsman

"The book posits the theory that we are all in an inescapable prison...The novel is written in a postmodern style reminiscent of Henry Miller or William Burroughs."
--i

"Okri creates a chilling atmosphere in The Freedom Artist...Okri's rhythmic, folk tale–like prose is beguiling."
--Sunday Times (UK)

"Ben Okri's most significant novel since his Man Booker Prize-winning masterpiece The Famished Road, The Freedom Artist weaves together ancient myth and modern politics for an impassioned story primed for the post-truth age. A story of love and loss, fiercely told and impossible to ignore."
--Waterstones, "The Best Books to Look Out For in 2019"

"The Freedom Artist has a compelling power and energy that won't let the reader go."
--The Herald (UK)

Praise for Ben Okri:

"Ben Okri is that rare thing, a literary and social visionary, a writer for whom all three--literature, culture, and vision--are profoundly interwoven."
--Ali Smith, author of How to be both

"Okri is incapable of writing a boring sentence. As one startling image follows the next, The Famished Road begins to read like an epic poem that happens to touch down just this side of prose...When I finished the book and went outside, it was as if all the trees of South London had angels sitting in them."
--Linda Grant, Independent on Sunday

About this edition

• Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd.
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 1617757926
• ISBN 13: 9781617757921
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336