From award-winning poet, educator, artist and 2026 Booker Prize judge, a groundbreaking memoir about family, identity, history and language.

'A big-hearted, transformative memoir' New York Times
'A quiet revolution' Irish Times
'Searing . . . often heart-rending' Guardian

Raymond Antrobus was diagnosed as deaf at the age of six. He discovered he had missing sounds - bird calls, whistles, kettles, alarms. Teachers thought he was slow and disruptive, some didn't believe he was deaf at all.

The Quiet Ear tells his story - from childhood to fatherhood - and the stories of other D/deaf cultural figures, from painters to silent film stars, poets to performers - the inspiring models of D/deaf creativity Antrobus did not have growing up.

Told with the electrifying prose of a poet, this groundbreaking and moving memoir explores family, identity, history and language, and what it means to be in a world saturated with noise.

A TIME BOOK OF THE YEAR

'Should force readers to pause and reflect' Independent
'Wise, intimate and questing' Telegraph
'Read this book' Lemn Sissay
'An essential education' Safiya Sinclair
'Important, honest, eye-opening and beautifully written' Bernardine Evaristo
'A must read' Rose Ayling-Ellis
'A modern classic' Roger Robinson
'Changed the way I will move through the world' Clint Smith

"An insightful, bighearted memoir, both expansive and precise . . . The Quiet Ear is a transformative story for all readers, offering an opportunity to discover the missing sounds and misunderstandings of their own experience - and begin to comprehend what it means to truly listen" - The New York Times

"This is not merely a memoir; it is a poetic reckoning with language, racial and cultural belonging, grief, masculinity and the very nature of listening. Every page pulses with vulnerability and insight, urging readers to reconsider their assumptions about ability, expression and voice . . . In a world saturated with noise, this book is a quiet revolution" - Irish Times

"Searing . . . In The Quiet Ear, Antrobus avoids being relegated to an object of pity . . . The memoir is a journey from the kind of shame that led to Antrobus masking his deafness in adolescence (growing his hair long and wearing hoods to hide his hearing aids) then finding the confidence that allowed him to compose revealing autobiographical poems. The Quiet Ear is dark and often heart-rending. But it is a testament to Antrobus's creativity and mirrors his poetry" - The Observer

"A wise, intimate and questing book . . . with The Quiet Ear, [Antrobus] has made a book for the boy he was, but he's also given other readers an insight into life both between cultures and between sounds" - The Telegraph

"The Quiet Ear pays homage to Antrobus's teachers of the deaf, and sets out to show why deaf children deserve so much more support than they are currently receiving. The author describes it as "memoir as advocacy", charting events in his own life while weaving in deaf history and a call to arms . . . It feels like a timely book, in an era where healthcare is in crisis and diversity and inclusion measures are under threat across the globe" - The Guardian

"Should force readers to pause and reflect . . . A rich, enlightening examination of deafness . . . A moving story of personal struggles as well as an honest account of dealing with prejudice both about race and "disability" . . . The Quiet Ear is packed with surprising stories . . . and, above all, it is an honest, revelatory account of Antrobus's own path to poetry . . . Antrobus's book also shines a light on deaf education in Britain" - The Independent

"This new generation of disabled memoirists isn't interested in pleasing the "mainstream," even if their works inevitably broach the universal quandary of what it means to be human. Instead, they ask hard questions with thorny answers . . . Antrobus, for his part, sensitively surveys the challenges and privileges that come with having an often-invisible disability . . . the tact and tenderness with which Antrobus writes about his wounded younger self and his deaf coming-of-age make the memoir a notable addition to the subgenre" - The Atlantic

"[Antrobus's] poetic sensibility infuses his moving memoir about living between the worlds of the hearing and the deaf" - The Washington Post

"A striking memoir . . . packed with revealing facts. Antrobus's portraits of his family are sparklingly original" - The Times

"A revelatory exploration of deafness, told through his own experience of missing sound . . . His book builds a bridge of communication between those who have some degree of hearing loss and those who do not, dissecting common assumptions and prevailing stereotypes about deafness along the way. It also serves as a cultural history of deafness in which Antrobus sets his own story alongside those of other deaf cultural figures . . . the process, he demonstrates that deaf identity, like so much else, exists on a broad spectrum" - The Bookseller

"Unmissable . . . an essential work that will hopefully help to shift attitudes to deafness" - Monocle

"Such an important, honest, eye-opening and beautifully-written book" - Bernardine Evaristo

"One of the best memoirs of the year . . . Antrobus intertwines personal stories about growing up deaf with lessons in culture and history" - TIME, The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025