Things I Have Withheld

This is what I call a brilliant collection of essays! This be read and studied widely! Brilliant! In Kei Miller’s long-awaited collection of essays Things I Have Withheld, he exams in the author note, silence, his body and how it is viewed by others. This is examination is continued throughout t......more

"We write because there are always things we have withheld. We die because things have been withheld from us, which is to say, respect; which is to say, dignity; which is to say, love." -from the essay This Is How We Die What will it take for the uncomfortable questions to be asked, for the true, raw......more

2025 review: reread as our inaugural selection for the DEI bookclub I started at work. My review is the same - powerful. 2024 review: This is my first encounter with Kei Miller, but hopefully not the last, as even though this is not a book of his poems, it certainly has a lyrical quality. This is a......more

So this goes straight on to the favourites shelf. I have to be honest this type of literature is not usually for me - I tend to find myself steering well clear of a writer who publishes a collection of essays, short stories and the like. More often than not, I find that this type of work will usuall......more

This is a stunning collection of reflections from a profound thinker. In these essays, the reader accompanies Kei Miller, a Black Jamaican man who lives and teaches in the UK, on his travels back to Jamaica, to Trinidad, Nairobi, Ethiopia and Kenya and experience with him attempted robbery, pilgrima......more