I've Been Meaning to Tell You: A Letter To My Daughter

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'There is, as you pick it up, nothing to prepare you for its power' OBSERVER 'Quite simply, one of the most beautiful books I have ever read' AMINATTA FORNA How do we navigate our complex histories for our children What is our duty to share and what must we leave for them to discover Writing to his daughter, David Chariandy asks difficult, unsettling, perhaps impossible questions questions made all the more poignant by our current political landscape. With tender, spare and luminous prose, Chariandy looks both into his heart and mind and out to the world and humanity. In the tradition of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, this is a book about race; this is a book about family.

Reviews

David Chariandys letter to his daughter is in turns disquieting, heartfelt, unflinchingly, tender, wry; writ large with love throughout. It is, quite simply, one of the most beautiful books I have ever read -- Aminatta Forna
There is, as you pick it up, nothing to prepare you for its power, unless you already know Chariandys fiction. He writes slender books that go straight to the heart ... But this new book is devastating in a new way because it is non-fiction and personal * Observer *
Reminiscent of Coates's and Adichie's letters, I've Been Meaning to Tell You builds upon foundational discussions of race and gender, layering in intersections of class and citizenship with a flawless hand. Chariandy is smart, tender, and often funny as he weaves together narrative and analysis to navigate perhaps the most complex relationship of all: that of father and daughter * Sara Novic, author of Girl at War *
Chariandy's stunning book is both a precise puncturing of the post-racial bubble, as well as an incredibly personal and powerful letter to his daughter. I wish I could have read this when I was growing up * Nafkote Tamirat, author of The Parking Lot Attendant *
A brilliant, powerful elegy from a living brother to a lost one, yet pulsing with rhythm, and beating with life -- Praise for 'Brother', Marlon James, Man Booker Prize-winning author of 'A Brief History of Seven Killings'
I love this novel. Riveting, composed, charged with feeling, Brother surrounds us with music and aspiration, fidelity and beauty -- Praise for 'Brother', Madeleine Thien, author of Man Booker Prize-shortlisted novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing
Mesmerizing. Poetic. Achingly soulful -- Lawrence Hill, author of 'The Book of Negroes'

Author Bio

David Chariandy grew up in Toronto and lives and teaches in Vancouver. He is the author of the novels Soucouyant and Brother, and the nonfiction work Ive Been Meaning to Tell You: A Letter to My Daughter. In 2019, he won Yales Windham-Campbell Prize in fiction.