There's Always This Year

“Hanif Abdurraqib writes: You are, in part, who loves you. I’ve never read a book more full of love—heartbreaking, poetic, rapturous—than There’s Always This Year. He loves basketball, his court, his block, his city, but most of all, his people, and he beautifully shares it in this indelible and mesmerizing book. Abdurraqib has written not only the most original sports book I’ve ever read but one of the most moving books I’ve ever read, period. . . . Utterly transcendent.”—Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams

“Hanif Abdurraqib again shows us new ways to be a social critic, a dreamer, a historian, and a lover of hoop. But—and this feels especially moving—he shows us how he wonders about, and how he is transformed in the wondering about, what it means to belong to a place. And you know by place I mean the people, the memories, the sorrows, the tomorrows, who are that place. And you know by all that I mean the love.”—Ross Gay, author of The Book of Delights

“Hanif Abdurraqib is one of the finest authors working in America, and this book contains, I would argue, the sharpest, most insightful, most poignant writing of his career. It’s incredible. It’s fat with emotion and love and earnestness and basketball, four of the very best things, packaged and delivered in a way that only Hanif can.”—Shea Serrano, bestselling author of Basketball (and Other Things)

“MacArthur fellow Abdurraqib follows his Carnegie Medal–winning A Little Devil in America with another unique, memoir-propelled, far-ranging, and affecting inquiry. . . . Structured like a game in quarters and minutes, it’s a galvanic drive through the intricacies of family, community, belief, and dreams, . . . Abdurraqib keeps multiple balls in the air as he swerves, spins, and scores, and every thoughtfully considered and vividly described element and emotion, action and moment, ultimately connects. An exhilarating, heartfelt, virtuoso, and profound performance.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Lyrically stunning and profoundly moving, the confessional text wanders through a variety of topics without ever losing its vulnerability, insight, or focus . . . A formally inventive, gorgeously personal triumph.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“Cultural critic Abdurraqib returns with a triumphant meditation on basketball and belonging. . . . The narrative works as if by alchemy, forging personal anecdotes, sports history, and cultural analysis into a bracing contemplation of the relationship between sports teams and their communities. This is another slam dunk for Abdurraqib.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“Beautifully written . . . Fans of Abdurraqib and basketball will enjoy this book. . . . He melodically combines topics.”—Library Journal