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No Is Not a Lonely Utterance
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  • Published: 2 December 2025
  • ISBN: 9780241759271
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $55.00

No Is Not a Lonely Utterance

The Art and Activism of Complaining

Formats & editions
Hardback
2 Dec 2025
EBook
18 Sept 2025
Audiobook
18 Sept 2025
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A moving exploration of the solace and power of listening in an unjust world, from the author of The Feminist Killjoy Handbook

‘Behind many disasters are unheard complaints’

To complain is an intimate, dangerous act. Whether it’s speaking up about racism in the workplace or taking a stand against sexual harassment at university, the act of complaining to an institution can leave you isolated and undermined, all while the original injustice remains unresolved. Time and time again, we see these unanswered complaints compound to disastrous effect.

In No is Not a Lonely Utterance, Sara Ahmed dissects the anatomy of a complaint, revealing how institutions create hostile environments that stigmatize complainers, and charts a way we can listen to grievances with ‘feminist ears’: going beyond mere validation and seeking instead to address the root causes of injustice and inequality.

Weaving together testimonies from various walks of life, Ahmed shows us what we learn about the ways institutions exercise their power when complaints are raised, and indeed what we learn about our capacity to collectivize and create social bonds through complaint. In doing so, she inspires us to create better environments for our life’s work.
  • Published: 2 December 2025
  • ISBN: 9780241759271
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $55.00

Also by Sara Ahmed

The Feminist Killjoy Handbook
See all

Praise for No Is Not a Lonely Utterance

Praise for Sara Ahmed

:

Sara Ahmed always has her finger on the pulse of the times

Angela Davis

A brilliant feminist thinker... Ahmed moves from scene to scene with clarity, rage, and joy, building through each refrain to mark the brutal violence of everyday encounters

Judith Butler

Clever and generous... has a talent for bringing her readers with her, without ever dumbing down or sugar-coating her politics, love of theory, or lived experience as a queer woman of colour

Zora Simic, Inside Story

A must-read . . . Ahmed does an excellent job of calling the reader to action whilst pointing out that solidarity and resistance look like different things to different people

Ashley, Glasgow Women's Library

Remarkable . . . has the potential to generate real change. In a world that is so turbulent and unpredictable, this book is the hope that so many people are searching for

Ellie Johnson, Zimmer Magazine

Ahmed merges her own experience with stories shared by other battle-scarred complainers... These stories bolster Ahmed’s cutting observations about the nefarious means by which power is maintained within institutions... Readers will find meaningful insight and support

Publishers Weekly

Doesn’t simply celebrate complaints; it reimagines them as a form of resistance and recognition... Ahmed’s book is an insightful reminder: Sometimes the squeaky wheel doesn’t get the grease until it’s too late

Natalie Haddad, Hyperallergic