Arinze Ifeakandu

INTRODUCED BY Jamel Brinkley author of the story collection A Lucky Man, published by Graywolf Press in 2018.

One of the stories in Arinze Ifeakandu’s debut, , describes a character who tells lies “to avoid being known.” It struck me that the knowability or unknowability of a person is among the threads that bind this new collection, which is a testament to the layered complexity of the book’s characters. These characters are navigating a world of uncertainty, one in which their power and safety often depend on an ability to disguise their queerness, a central aspect of who they are. I read the book with great admiration for every instance of particularized attention it gives to the aches and tensions that