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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2024 ACCORDING TO TIME, NPR, Chicago Review of Books, Lit Hub, Medium, The Millions, Book Riot, and more

It might do all of us some good to reconsider what ‘making it’ even means.

Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, in the 1990s, Hanif Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron James were forged — and countless others weren’t. His lifelong love of the game leads Abdurraqib into a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of what it means to make it, who we think deserves success, the tension between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role models, all of which he expertly weaves together with intimate, personal storytelling.

There’s Always This Year is a triumph from one of America’s most celebrated and insightful writers. It brims with joy, pain, solidarity, comfort, outrage, and hope. No matter the subject, Abdurraqib’s exquisite writing is always poetry, always profound, and always a clarion call to radically reimagine how we think about our culture, and ourselves.

Publisher Review

Hanif Abdurraqib writes: You are, in part, who loves you. I’ve never read a book more full of love-heartbreaking, poetic, rapturous-than There’s Always This Year. He loves basketball, his court, his block, his city, but most of all, his people, and he beautifully shares it in this indelible and mesmerizing book. Abdurraqib has written not only the most original sports book I’ve ever read, it’s also one of the most moving books I’ve ever read, period. Utterly transcendent — Steve James * director of Hoop Dreams * Lyrically stunning and profoundly moving, the confessional text wanders through a variety of topics without ever losing its vulnerability, insight, or focus… a formally inventive, gorgeously personal triumph * Kirkus Reviews * Hanif Abdurraqib is one of the finest authors working in America, and this book contains, I would argue, the sharpest, most insightful, most poignant writing of his career. It’s incredible. It’s fat with emotion and love and earnestness and basketball, four of the very best things, packaged and delivered in a way that only Hanif can — Shea Serrano * bestselling author of Basketball (and Other Things) * Hanif Abdurraqib again shows us new ways to be a social critic, a dreamer, a historian, and a lover of hoop. But–and this feels especially moving–he shows us how he wonders about, and how he is transformed in the wondering about, what it means to belong to a place. And you know by place I mean the people, the memories, the sorrows, the tomorrows, who are that place. And you know by all that I mean the love — Ross Gay * author of The Book of Delights * MacArthur fellow Abdurraqib follows his Carnegie Medal-winning A Little Devil in America with another unique, memoir-propelled, far-ranging, and affecting inquiry. . . . Structured like a game in quarters and minutes, it’s a galvanic drive through the intricacies of family, community, belief, and dreams, . . . Abdurraqib keeps multiple balls in the air as he swerves, spins, and scores, and every thoughtfully considered and vividly described element and emotion, action and moment, ultimately connects. An exhilarating, heartfelt, virtuoso, and profound performance * Booklist (starred review) * Everything Hanif Abdurraqib writes-music criticism, poetry, personal essays, tweets about his dog, analysis of NBA oddballs-is worth reading. The depth of insight and humanity he brings to his writing is a marvel * Lit Hub * There is perhaps no writer I’d rather read a meditation on basketball on than Hanif Abdurraqib. Already one of our most important cultural critics working today, Abdurraqib brings his stunning candor and care to this exploration of the new golden age of basketball, the stars that shined brighter than ever before, and his personal relationship to the sport * Chicago Review of Books * A smart, thoughtful examination of home, role models, society, fame, and more * Book Riot * MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant-winning author Hanif Abdurraqib has written thoughtful, personal, and poetic cultural criticism on music, dance, film, and more. While nominally his next book is about basketball – like the rest of his writing, it’s also about everything else * NPR *