Neverland - by Vanessa Kisuule (Hardcover)

About the Book

"With verve and incisiveness, Kisuule explores her own experience of being a mega fan and the evergreen question of whether we can, or should, separate the art from the artist."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

The debut work of non-fiction by award-winning slam poet Vanessa Kisuule, this is a love letter to the musicians we adore and an unflinching look at the costs of hero worship

Why do famous musicians mean so much to us? How does the pop culture industry both mirror and magnify the worst aspects of human nature? Why is it so hard to accept that the people we love, famous or not, can be capable of doing terrible things?

As conversations about abuse perpetrated by public figures become louder and from her very personal perspective as a Michael Jackson obsessive, Kisuule examines the nuances of 'fandom': of celebrities as symbols and fantasies, of child stars and power imbalances. Neverland invites us to question the dangers of idolising and villainising individuals and asks us to be unafraid of scrutinising the ugly and contradictory aspects of these issues. It also holds space for the joy we all get from music and explores ways we can preserve this.

With verve and incisiveness, Kisuule explores her own experience of being a mega fan and the evergreen question of whether we can, or should, separate the art from the artist. With references to R Kelly, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and other famous figures, this is both a love letter to the musicians we adore and an unflinching look at the costs of hero worship.

Review Quotes

Praise for Vanessa Kisuule: "Vanessa Kisuule is an explosion wrapped in ribbon"--JOELLE TAYLOR

"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"

"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

"Neverland is an unmissable exploration of our crazy codependence with the artists we adore, of what they do for us and what we do to them. Funny, wise and beautifully written, it brilliantly evokes how the things we love change and challenge us. I couldn't stop reading it"
--MATT ROWLAND HILL

"[Kisuule] covers an array of unusual topics, from octopuses to aunties, cryonics to nights out. It's a great showcase of her style and curiosity as a writer"-- "Wee Review"

"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

"One of the most interesting writers at work in this country today. An exhilarating stylist and a beautiful thinker"--MAX PORTER

"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

"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

"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

"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. The result is layered, strange and conflicted. It's thrilling and rare to read a writer going at this inquiry with her teeth"--AMY KEY, author of ARRANGEMENTS IN BLUE

About the Author

Vanessa Kisuule is a writer and performer based in Bristol. She has been featured on BBC iPlayer, Radio 1 and Radio 4's Woman's Hour, and has written for Guardian, NME and Lonely Planet. Burning Eye Books publish her poetry. Kisuule is the co-tutor for Southbank New Poets Collective 2021-22 and was Bristol City Poet 2018-20. Her poem on the historic toppling of Edward Colston's statue 'Hollow' gained over 600,000 views on Twitter in three days.

vanessakisuule.com @Vanessa_Kisuule