Nowhere, Exactly - by M G Vassanji

Book Synopsis

From one of Canada's most celebrated writers, two-time Giller Prize winner M.G. Vassanji, comes a thoughtful meditation on what it means to belong in the world.

Shortlisted for the Writers' Trust Balsillie Prize for Public Policy

Home is never a single place, entirely and unequivocally. It is contingent. The abstract "nowhere," then, is the true home.

M.G. Vassanji has been exploring identity and belonging for over three decades, drawing on his own eclectic upbringing and intimate understanding of the unique challenges and perspectives born from leaving one's home and settling in a new land. The question of how to configure and see oneself within this new land, and within the larger world that's opened up, is a constant, nagging challenge. In today's world, possessing multiple identities has become a commonplace concept. But what does it mean to truly belong--to a place, a community, a faith . . . a history? Can we ever belong in our new home? Did we ever belong in the home we left? Where exactly do we belong? For many, the answer is nowhere, exactly.

Combining brilliant prose, thoughtful, candid observation, and a lifetime of exploring how we as individuals are shaped by the places and communities in which we have lived and the histories that haunt them, Nowhere, Exactly examines with exquisite sensitivity the space between identity and belonging, the immigrant or exile's experience of both loss and gain, and the weight of memory and nostalgia, and of guilt and hope felt by so many of those who leave their homes in search of new ones, for one reason or another.

Review Quotes

Shortlisted for the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy

"Nowhere, Exactly is a rich gift to Canadians--a thoughtful, meditative and nuanced exploration of identity. . . . In beautiful prose, Vassanji takes us back to first principles on mosaics and multiculturalism -- on how people and place come together, forging the new from the old." --Balsillie Prize for Public Policy Jury

About the Author

M.G. VASSANJI won the Giller Prize for his novels The Book of Secrets and The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, and the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction for A Place Within: Rediscovering India. His novel The Assassin's Song was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction. His novel Nostalgia was a finalist in Canada Reads 2017. His latest novel, Everything There Is, was published in Fall 2023.