Common

Nikolai Duffy is the author of two previous cross-genre poetry collections, and the literary non-fiction book, Relative Strangeness: Reading Rosmarie Waldrop. His creative work has been read and performed internationally,.In 2019 he was awarded a UNESCO City of Literature Residency in Ljubljana. Common is his first novel. He teaches in the English Department at Manchester Metropolitan University.

"A beautiful novel, radically humane, intelligent and curious. In doing away with the trappings of conventional narrative along with their capacity for reduction, Duffy creates something far more urgent - and a story far more engaging. Every sentence feels perfectly weighted and imbued with a rare honesty that makes it one of the more profound meditations on life, love and mortality Ive read." - Luke Kennard "Through this lyrical and beautifully poised novel, we come to understand how quietly a mans life can fall apart and how violence and love can send their after image into our hearts and minds for years. Duffy asks us to reflect on the compromises we make to survive and to move through the world, holding each one up to the light in this deeply moving meditation on family, marriage and grief." - Kim Moore "Common suggests nothing out of the ordinary and yet here, around the building of a hut, we have the remarkable accrual of an ordinary life. Through the thickets of various relationships, we are invited to tread a fine and deftly-drawn line between shelter and isolation." - Rachel Genn