In his memoir, poet Raymond Antrobus writes of 'deaf gain' instead of hearing loss

In his memoir, poet Raymond Antrobus writes of 'deaf gain' instead of hearing loss

From NPR's Book of the Day by NPR

April 22, 2026 · 9 min

About this episode

Raymond Antrobus discusses his memoir 'The Quiet Ear' and his experiences as a deaf poet.

This week, we're celebrating National Poetry Month by revisiting some of our favorite conversations with poets. When Raymond Antrobus was 6 years old, he learned he was deaf. His memoir The Quiet Ear describes living in a world of in-betweenness, straddling intersections of race, class, hearing and deafness. In today’s episode, Antrobus joins NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly for a discussion that touches on his connection with the creative deaf community in London, his dad’s DJ sets, and differences between British and American Sign Language. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

People in this episode

Host: Mary Louise Kelly

Guest: Raymond Antrobus

Topics covered

  • memoir
  • poetry
  • deafness
  • creative community
  • sign language
  • race
  • class

Keywords

  • Raymond Antrobus
  • deaf gain
  • poetry
  • memoir
  • British Sign Language
  • American Sign Language
  • creative community
  • National Poetry Month

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NPR

Books & works: The Quiet Ear

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