Description

‘Exhilarating’ MAX PORTER
‘Brutal, brave and beautifully written’ YOMI ADEGOKE
‘Razor-sharp’ CALEB FEMI

Vanessa Kisuule’s fixation with Michael Jackson once gave her great joy, but now it keeps her up at night. In her bracingly honest, energetic and lively book she explores the fall-out from that fandom and how, or if, we can hold people to account whilst loving them at the same time.

As debates rage on about abusive public figures, Kisuule asks not just if we should separate the art from the artist, but how this moral conundrum informs the way we shape our relationships, families and notions of social justice. Witty, poetic and with references to R. Kelly, Britney Spears and a host of other famous faces, Neverland is both an ardent love letter to the music we adore and an unflinching look at the costs of hero worship.

Publisher Review

One of the most interesting writers at work in this country today. An exhilarating stylist and a beautiful thinker — MAX PORTER Neverland is a brutal, brave and beautifully written book that asks uncomfortable questions and exposes uncomfortable truths. Nuanced, necessary and will start many conversations — YOMI ADEGOKE Neverland is what I hope for every time I open a book of non-fiction: it’s knotty, curious, compassionate and unsurprisingly poetic. I am so grateful for Kisuule’s willingness to write into the grey areas, to encourage us to think more expansively about social rot and how it calcifies, and to imagine what freedom might look like — PANDORA SYKES With razor-sharp insight and lyrical beauty, Kisuule pulls back the curtain on the allure and the anguish of loving an artist whose brilliance is shadowed by controversy. This book doesn’t just tell a story – it grips you, challenging you to confront the complexities of hero worship and the deep, often conflicting emotions that come with it – an absolute must-read — CALEB FEMI In Neverland Vanessa Kisuule turns the intense, passionate gaze of the fan away from her object and back onto herself. Rather than asking the question can I still love this personal canonical figure in the knowledge of the harms they perpetrated?, Kisuule explores what we can learn about ourselves through our fandom. It’s thrilling and rare to read a writer going at this inquiry with her teeth — AMY KEY Neverland is a riveting and courageous exploration of idolisation and personal morality. With unflinching precision, Kisuule examines how cultural icons shape and sometimes distort our moral landscapes. She is a remarkable thinker who seeks to understand rather than judge. And a remarkable writer who conveys her message in thunderous prose — NATHAN FILER The most human untangling of a complex and intricate love that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Incisive, and as funny as it is sharp — CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS An exquisitely written, breathtakingly honest, deeply intelligent book that the world needs, that will ignite your humanity in unexpected ways. Vanessa Kisuule is a rare and brave talent — DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE A candid reflection on struggling to reconcile her love for Michael Jackson with the sexual abuse allegations against him . . . Kisuule brings a novel perspective to the discourse on loving problematic artists. This is a worthy complement to Margo Jefferson’s On Michael Jackson * * Publisher’s Weekly * * Vanessa Kisuule is always the smartest, funniest, courageous person in any room and this book is a testament to all of who she is. This is so much more than a book about separating art from artists, which is often such a banal approach. Instead, this is a book about coming of age, with reckoning with yourself, your fallibilities, your vulnerabilities. Vanessa writes with clarity, conviction and heart, and every page is the smartest, funniest, most courageous writing in any room — NIKESH SHUKLA