August 13th, 2025 — Civitella is proud to share the upcoming release of Raymond Antrobus‘ (CRF 2025) new memoir The Quiet Ear: An Investigation of Missing Sound (Hogarth), out August 19th. The UK version (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) will be released on August 28th. One of Publishers Weekly’s Top 10 New Memoirs (starred review) and Biographies of the Fall and one of The Washington Post and Vulture’s most anticipated books, The Quiet Ear is a groundbreaking exploration of deafness and a call to action.
On the genesis of Raymond’s first prose work for adults, he says in an interview with The Bookseller, “The subtitle of this book – An Investigation of Missing Sound – could also be the subtitle of my life’s work.”
Raymond will be performing at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on October 17th in Gloucestershire, England. Tickets are on sale now!
About the Book
I live with the aid of deafness. Like poetry, it has given me an art, a history, a culture and a tradition to live through. This book charts that art in the hopes of offering a map, a mirror, a small part of a larger story.
Raymond Antrobus was first diagnosed as deaf at the age of six. He discovered he had missing sounds—bird calls, whistles, kettles, alarms. Teachers thought he was slow and disruptive, some didn’t believe he was deaf at all.
The Quiet Ear tells the story of Antrobus’s upbringing at the intersection of race and disability. Growing up in East London to an English mother and Jamaican father, educated in both mainstream and deaf schooling systems, Antrobus explores the shame of miscommunication, the joy of finding community, and shines a light on deaf education.
Throughout, Antrobus sets his story alongside those of other D/deaf cultural figures—from painters to silent film stars, poets to performers—the inspiring models of D/deaf creativity he did not have growing up. A singular, remarkable work, The Quiet Ear is a much-needed examination of deafness in the world.
“A litany to beauty beyond what is spoken. This book is an essential education.”—Safiya Sinclair (CRF 2023)
“This book left me transformed,” —Caleb Azumah Nelson
Learn more and get your copy of the book here!