That Reminds Me by Derek Owusu

WINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2020

A dreamy, impressionistic offering of reassembled fragments of memories emerging through the misty, beauty of a deliciously individualistic poetic sensibility. Reminding us of what has been missing from British poetry.

This is the story of K. K is sent into care before a year marks his birth. He grows up in fields and woods, and he is happy, he thinks.

When K is eleven, the city reclaims him. He returns to an unknown mother and a part-time father, trading the fields for flats and a community that is alien to him. Slowly, he finds friends.

Eventually, he finds love. He learns how to navigate the city. But as he grows, he begins to realise that he needs more than the city can provide.

He is a man made of pieces. Pieces that are slowly breaking apart.

That Reminds Me is the story of one young man, from birth to adulthood, told in fragments of memory. It explores questions of identity, belonging, addiction, sexuality, violence, family and religion.

It is a deeply moving and completely original work of literature from one of the brightest British writers of today.

"I can't tell you how impressed I was and how much I enjoyed reading this stunning book." Bernadine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

'Heartbreaking, important and original.' Christie Watson, author of The language of Kindness

"Derek Owusu's writing is honest, moving, delicate, but tough. Once you lock on to his words, it is hard to break eye contact. A beautiful meditation on childhood, coming of age, the now, and the media. This work is heartfelt." Benjamin Zephaniah

"When writing is this honest, it soars. What an incredible use of language and truth." Yrsa Daley-Ward