On Morrison

Immense gratitude for this book, and for Namwali Serpell's close looking, which has led to these stunning reconsiderations of Morrison, which are incisive, tender, and also honest and unsparing

HANIF ABDURRAQIB, author of A Little Devil in America

In On Morrison, Serpell applies her prodigious intellect, vast literary archive, and her own calling as a novelist to magnificent effect in this breathtaking, provocative, and refreshing engagement with Morrison as a thinker as well as an artist

IMANI PERRY

On Morrison is not simply a literary miracle; it is a cultural feat, a damn near perfect concoction made maybe once in a generation... we should be thankful to share the earth with this art object

KIESE LAYMON, author of Heavy: An American Memoir

Serpell offers a thrilling, candid and immersive study of one extraordinary mind by another, and a critical reappraisal of a body of work that readers of Morrison will find enlightening for years to come. A necessary book, and a brilliant achievement

PRETI TANEJA, author of We That Are Young

As gripping as it is intellectually brilliant... a lucid and revelatory close-read of all of her work, it’s also a love letter to reading itself; to the virtues of difficulty; to Black literary inheritance; and to Morrison’s uncompromising vision in always bringing the center to the margins. Serpell has alchemized her scholarly erudition with her novelist's eyes and ears for pacing and detail. On Morrison is a classic

CATHY PARK HONG, author of Minor Feelings

An impressive, nuanced work of scholarship

Kirkus, starred review

Insightful and stimulating... Through exceptional close readings and sharp analyses, Serpell puts Morrison’s genius on full display. This will enthrall Morrison fans and cultivate new ones

Publishers Weekly, starred review

Serpell is a superlative essayist, and On Morrison a high-flying, fantastically erudite rendition of how Morrison wanted to be read, blending the scholarly and the personal response to her work with seamless flair and conviction

DIANA EVANS, author of Ordinary People

Morrison gave me language to understand the voices of my African-American kin. In this brilliant book, Namwali Serpell invites the reader into an intimate conversation. She is scholar - with an incisive intellect and a questing spirit. And she is literary bestie: accessible, challenging and illuminating

ELLAH P. WAKATAMA