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Feel Free

Essays

Author Zadie Smith
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$18.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Books
On sale Feb 05, 2019 | 480 Pages | 978-0-14-311025-5
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  • English > Literature > British Literature – Non-Fiction
  • Interdisciplinary Studies > Social Science > American Popular Culture
  • About
  • Awards
  • Author
Winner of the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism 

A New York Times Notable Book

From Zadie Smith, one of the most beloved authors of her generation, a new collection of essays


Since she burst spectacularly into view with her debut novel almost two decades ago, Zadie Smith has established herself not just as one of the world's preeminent fiction writers, but also a brilliant and singular essayist. She contributes regularly to The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books on a range of subjects, and each piece of hers is a literary event in its own right.

Arranged into five sections--In the World, In the Audience, In the Gallery, On the Bookshelf, and Feel Free--this new collection poses questions we immediately recognize. What is The Social Network--and Facebook itself--really about? "It's a cruel portrait of us: 500 million sentient people entrapped in the recent careless thoughts of a Harvard sophomore." Why do we love libraries? "Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay." What will we tell our granddaughters about our collective failure to address global warming? "So I might say to her, look: the thing you have to appreciate is that we'd just been through a century of relativism and deconstruction, in which we were informed that most of our fondest-held principles were either uncertain or simple wishful thinking, and in many areas of our lives we had already been asked to accept that nothing is essential and everything changes--and this had taken the fight out of us somewhat."

Gathering in one place for the first time previously unpublished work, as well as already classic essays, such as, "Joy," and, "Find Your Beach," Feel Free offers a survey of important recent events in culture and politics, as well as Smith's own life. Equally at home in the world of good books and bad politics, Brooklyn-born rappers and the work of Swiss novelists, she is by turns wry, heartfelt, indignant, and incisive--and never any less than perfect company. This is literary journalism at its zenith.

Zadie Smith's new book, Grand Union, is on sale 10/8/2019.
  • WINNER | 2019
    National Book Critics Circle Awards
  • FINALIST | 2019
    PEN/Spielvogel-Diamonstein Award - Essay
© Ben Bailey-Smith
Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia, three collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free, and Intimations, and a short story collection, Grand Union. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People. Smith was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002, and was listed as one of Granta's 20 Best Young British Novelists in 2003 and again in 2013. White Teeth won multiple literary awards including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award. On Beauty was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and NW was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Zadie Smith is currently a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. View titles by Zadie Smith

About

Winner of the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism 

A New York Times Notable Book

From Zadie Smith, one of the most beloved authors of her generation, a new collection of essays


Since she burst spectacularly into view with her debut novel almost two decades ago, Zadie Smith has established herself not just as one of the world's preeminent fiction writers, but also a brilliant and singular essayist. She contributes regularly to The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books on a range of subjects, and each piece of hers is a literary event in its own right.

Arranged into five sections--In the World, In the Audience, In the Gallery, On the Bookshelf, and Feel Free--this new collection poses questions we immediately recognize. What is The Social Network--and Facebook itself--really about? "It's a cruel portrait of us: 500 million sentient people entrapped in the recent careless thoughts of a Harvard sophomore." Why do we love libraries? "Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay." What will we tell our granddaughters about our collective failure to address global warming? "So I might say to her, look: the thing you have to appreciate is that we'd just been through a century of relativism and deconstruction, in which we were informed that most of our fondest-held principles were either uncertain or simple wishful thinking, and in many areas of our lives we had already been asked to accept that nothing is essential and everything changes--and this had taken the fight out of us somewhat."

Gathering in one place for the first time previously unpublished work, as well as already classic essays, such as, "Joy," and, "Find Your Beach," Feel Free offers a survey of important recent events in culture and politics, as well as Smith's own life. Equally at home in the world of good books and bad politics, Brooklyn-born rappers and the work of Swiss novelists, she is by turns wry, heartfelt, indignant, and incisive--and never any less than perfect company. This is literary journalism at its zenith.

Zadie Smith's new book, Grand Union, is on sale 10/8/2019.

Awards

  • WINNER | 2019
    National Book Critics Circle Awards
  • FINALIST | 2019
    PEN/Spielvogel-Diamonstein Award - Essay

Author

© Ben Bailey-Smith
Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia, three collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free, and Intimations, and a short story collection, Grand Union. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People. Smith was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002, and was listed as one of Granta's 20 Best Young British Novelists in 2003 and again in 2013. White Teeth won multiple literary awards including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award. On Beauty was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and NW was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Zadie Smith is currently a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. View titles by Zadie Smith

Additional formats

  • Feel Free
    Feel Free
    Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-525-52874-6
    $22.50 US
    Audiobook Download
    Penguin Audio
    Feb 06, 2018
  • Feel Free
    Feel Free
    Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-698-17888-5
    $13.99 US
    Ebook
    Penguin Books
    Feb 06, 2018
  • Feel Free
    Feel Free
    Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-1-59420-625-2
    $28.00 US
    Hardcover
    Penguin Press
    Feb 06, 2018
  • Feel Free
    Feel Free
    Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-525-52874-6
    $22.50 US
    Audiobook Download
    Penguin Audio
    Feb 06, 2018
  • Feel Free
    Feel Free
    Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-698-17888-5
    $13.99 US
    Ebook
    Penguin Books
    Feb 06, 2018
  • Feel Free
    Feel Free
    Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-1-59420-625-2
    $28.00 US
    Hardcover
    Penguin Press
    Feb 06, 2018

Other Books by this Author

  • The Fraud
    The Fraud
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-525-55896-5
    $29.00 US
    Hardcover
    Penguin Press
    Sep 05, 2023
  • The Wife of Willesden
    The Wife of Willesden
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-65373-9
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Feb 14, 2023
  • The Surprise
    The Surprise
    Zadie Smith, Nick Laird, Magenta Fox
    978-0-593-52597-5
    $17.99 US
    Hardcover
    Viking Books for Young Readers
    Jun 28, 2022
  • Grand Union
    Grand Union
    Stories
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-525-55901-6
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Oct 06, 2020
  • Intimations
    Intimations
    Six Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-29761-2
    $10.95 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Jul 28, 2020
  • Swing Time
    Swing Time
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-311164-1
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 05, 2017
  • NW
    NW
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-312393-4
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 27, 2013
  • Changing My Mind
    Changing My Mind
    Occasional Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-311795-7
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Oct 26, 2010
  • On Beauty
    On Beauty
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-303774-3
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 29, 2006
  • The Autograph Man
    The Autograph Man
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-375-70387-4
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 17, 2003
  • White Teeth
    White Teeth
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-375-70386-7
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 12, 2001
  • The Fraud
    The Fraud
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-525-55896-5
    $29.00 US
    Hardcover
    Penguin Press
    Sep 05, 2023
  • The Wife of Willesden
    The Wife of Willesden
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-65373-9
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Feb 14, 2023
  • The Surprise
    The Surprise
    Zadie Smith, Nick Laird, Magenta Fox
    978-0-593-52597-5
    $17.99 US
    Hardcover
    Viking Books for Young Readers
    Jun 28, 2022
  • Grand Union
    Grand Union
    Stories
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-525-55901-6
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Oct 06, 2020
  • Intimations
    Intimations
    Six Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-593-29761-2
    $10.95 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Jul 28, 2020
  • Swing Time
    Swing Time
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-311164-1
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 05, 2017
  • NW
    NW
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-312393-4
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 27, 2013
  • Changing My Mind
    Changing My Mind
    Occasional Essays
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-311795-7
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Oct 26, 2010
  • On Beauty
    On Beauty
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-14-303774-3
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 29, 2006
  • The Autograph Man
    The Autograph Man
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-375-70387-4
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 17, 2003
  • White Teeth
    White Teeth
    A Novel
    Zadie Smith
    978-0-375-70386-7
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 12, 2001
Related Articles
Humanities & Social Sciences
February 5 2019

Our 8 NBCC Award Finalists

Congratulations to our 8 National Book Critics Circle finalists for their 2018 Awards. Founded in 1974, the NBCC now comprises more than 1,000 working critics and book-review editors throughout the country, who annually vote and bestow its awards in six categories, honoring the best books published in the past year in the United States.  

Read more

Our 8 NBCC Award Finalists

Humanities & Social Sciences
February 5 2019
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