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Tiger Work
Inspired by environmental activism, Tiger Work blends fiction, essay and poetry to make a powerful and very personal appeal for change.
If we continue to live as we do now, Ben Okri argues in this evocative collection, there will be no world left for us to fix. He imagines messages, sent to us from beyond the end, from those who saw it coming—from Africa, Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world—exhorting us to change now.
This is a collection comprising two poems and six prose pieces—three short stories, an essay, a letter, and an interview. It has Ben's classic blend of storytelling, fantasy and magic.
If we continue to live as we do now, Ben Okri argues in this evocative collection, there will be no world left for us to fix. He imagines messages, sent to us from beyond the end, from those who saw it coming—from Africa, Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world—exhorting us to change now.
This is a collection comprising two poems and six prose pieces—three short stories, an essay, a letter, and an interview. It has Ben's classic blend of storytelling, fantasy and magic.
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First published July 6, 2023
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About the author
Ben Okri
86 books990 followersPoet and novelist Ben Okri was born in 1959 in Minna, northern Nigeria, to an Igbo mother and Urhobo father. He grew up in London before returning to Nigeria with his family in 1968. Much of his early fiction explores the political violence that he witnessed at first hand during the civil war in Nigeria. He left the country when a grant from the Nigerian government enabled him to read Comparative Literature at Essex University in England.
He was poetry editor for West Africa magazine between 1983 and 1986 and broadcast regularly for the BBC World Service between 1983 and 1985. He was appointed Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge in 1991, a post he held until 1993. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1987, and was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Westminster (1997) and Essex (2002).
His first two novels, Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981), are both set in Nigeria and feature as central characters two young men struggling to make sense of the disintegration and chaos happening in both their family and country. The two collections of stories that followed, Incidents at the Shrine (1986) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988), are set in Lagos and London.
In 1991 Okri was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Famished Road (1991). Set in a Nigerian village, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which tell the story of Azaro, a spirit child. Azaro's narrative is continued in Songs of Enchantment (1993) and Infinite Riches (1998). Other recent fiction includes Astonishing the Gods (1995) and Dangerous Love (1996), which was awarded the Premio Palmi (Italy) in 2000. His latest novels are In Arcadia (2002) and Starbook (2007).
A collection of poems, An African Elegy, was published in 1992, and an epic poem, Mental Flight, in 1999. A collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, was published in 1997. Ben Okri is also the author of a play, In Exilus.
In his latest book, Tales of Freedom (2009), Okri brings together poetry and story.
Ben Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE in 2001. He lives in London.
He was poetry editor for West Africa magazine between 1983 and 1986 and broadcast regularly for the BBC World Service between 1983 and 1985. He was appointed Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge in 1991, a post he held until 1993. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1987, and was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Westminster (1997) and Essex (2002).
His first two novels, Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981), are both set in Nigeria and feature as central characters two young men struggling to make sense of the disintegration and chaos happening in both their family and country. The two collections of stories that followed, Incidents at the Shrine (1986) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988), are set in Lagos and London.
In 1991 Okri was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Famished Road (1991). Set in a Nigerian village, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which tell the story of Azaro, a spirit child. Azaro's narrative is continued in Songs of Enchantment (1993) and Infinite Riches (1998). Other recent fiction includes Astonishing the Gods (1995) and Dangerous Love (1996), which was awarded the Premio Palmi (Italy) in 2000. His latest novels are In Arcadia (2002) and Starbook (2007).
A collection of poems, An African Elegy, was published in 1992, and an epic poem, Mental Flight, in 1999. A collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, was published in 1997. Ben Okri is also the author of a play, In Exilus.
In his latest book, Tales of Freedom (2009), Okri brings together poetry and story.
Ben Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE in 2001. He lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
August 14, 2023
Tiger Work is a collection of timely and often poignant short stories, essays and poetry about Climate Change by Nigerian-born Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri that constitute a powerful and very personal appeal for change. He offers what he feels are the reasons that too little is being done, and makes positive suggestions.
He states: “Our capacity for denial is stronger than our capacity for belief. We find it easier to not face the truth. We go on living our ordinary lives while refusing to believe the overwhelming evidence that our way of life is destroying us. A prisoner of the past, we go on doing things which we know are killing us. Worse, we believe that the inevitable conclusion of all our deeds will not come to pass. We think that somehow, at the last minute, there will be a miracle, a magical solution. We possibly even hope that factors in nature we hadn’t considered will somehow wipe clean the slate of our environmental crimes.”
One of the short stories, “And Peace Shall Return” is a post-apocalyptic tale that consists of scraps of documents found by those visiting Earth some twenty thousand years after the planet went silent: “scattered notes and half-worked stories left behind by the last human beings in the very twilight of their history.”, offering a retrospective of earths fate. It includes “The real menace were the politicians smoothly denying there was anything to fear. But we were the worst menace of all. The way we kept trying to live normally” which may resonate with many.
Another, “After the End” offers a view of what seems like a pre apocalyptic dystopia.
The poetry is persuasive and thought-provoking:
“What can one say to those
Who either don’t want to
Hear, or have heard enough?
What can one say
That doesn’t paralyse some
With the sheer scale
Of the problem?
Fear Doesn’t work.
And guilt doesn’t work.
So I thought that maybe
Love could shift our vision”
And
“In the Tao Te Ching
There’s a light-crammed
Passage which says
That the sage loves
The world as they love their body.
If the earth were our body
Would we do half the things
To it that we’re doing?
Take a nuclear blast
To the kidney
Smash the heart
With metal spikes
Frack the intestines
Mine the brain“ are examples
Okri prefaces it all with the request to “read slowly”, and these analytical and inspirational pieces will definitely have their best impact if consumed in small doses. The reader’s frame is mind will also be important to how well the message is received. Will his message reach those who need to hear it? Or is Okri preaching to the converted? Topical and relevant.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Head of Zeus
He states: “Our capacity for denial is stronger than our capacity for belief. We find it easier to not face the truth. We go on living our ordinary lives while refusing to believe the overwhelming evidence that our way of life is destroying us. A prisoner of the past, we go on doing things which we know are killing us. Worse, we believe that the inevitable conclusion of all our deeds will not come to pass. We think that somehow, at the last minute, there will be a miracle, a magical solution. We possibly even hope that factors in nature we hadn’t considered will somehow wipe clean the slate of our environmental crimes.”
One of the short stories, “And Peace Shall Return” is a post-apocalyptic tale that consists of scraps of documents found by those visiting Earth some twenty thousand years after the planet went silent: “scattered notes and half-worked stories left behind by the last human beings in the very twilight of their history.”, offering a retrospective of earths fate. It includes “The real menace were the politicians smoothly denying there was anything to fear. But we were the worst menace of all. The way we kept trying to live normally” which may resonate with many.
Another, “After the End” offers a view of what seems like a pre apocalyptic dystopia.
The poetry is persuasive and thought-provoking:
“What can one say to those
Who either don’t want to
Hear, or have heard enough?
What can one say
That doesn’t paralyse some
With the sheer scale
Of the problem?
Fear Doesn’t work.
And guilt doesn’t work.
So I thought that maybe
Love could shift our vision”
And
“In the Tao Te Ching
There’s a light-crammed
Passage which says
That the sage loves
The world as they love their body.
If the earth were our body
Would we do half the things
To it that we’re doing?
Take a nuclear blast
To the kidney
Smash the heart
With metal spikes
Frack the intestines
Mine the brain“ are examples
Okri prefaces it all with the request to “read slowly”, and these analytical and inspirational pieces will definitely have their best impact if consumed in small doses. The reader’s frame is mind will also be important to how well the message is received. Will his message reach those who need to hear it? Or is Okri preaching to the converted? Topical and relevant.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Head of Zeus
July 15, 2023
This short book contains poems, short stories, an essay, all with the theme of climate change, environmental disaster and the nature of humans. Some of the pieces are post disaster, some are mid disaster, much of them questioning how humans can be the cause and yet not see it. I think my favourite piece was towards the start of the book.
October 4, 2023
How do we respond to the climate crisis? And, in particular, how do creatives—writers, artists, composers, sculptors, filmmakers—respond with their creativity? Writing in The Graun, Ben Okri spoke of writing “as if these are the last days.”
I remember the impact Okri’s essay had when I read it. I shared it on my social media and discussed it with a good friend and respected colleague. We agreed that given how humanity (for want of a better word) has taken us close to putting the Earth’s future in peril, our creativity must focus on advocating for animal rights, saving the environment, and educating people on how to live ethically and environmentally. Some of us need to escape reality by reading the latest Salman Rushdie or keeping up with episodes from our favourite soaps. But nothing else really matters any more. As Paul McCartney may have sung, “No More Silly Love Songs.”
Okri’s 2021 essay, “Artists must confront the climate crisis – we must write as if these are the last days,” is included in his new book, Tiger Work, but with a new title, “Existential Creativity.” When I discovered Okri’s new book, Tiger Work, and its subtitle, “Stories, essays and poems about climate change,” I knew it was something I had to read. I’m really glad I did. I had not read him before but was aware he’d won the Booker Prize for fiction a few years back.
As the subtitle indicates, this is an anthology of different writing styles centred around the climate crisis. There’s a short story, “The Secret Source,” about the centrality of water in our lives. There are short polemical pieces (“Letter to the Earth”) and there’s poetry. The latter is a way to write that troubles me. Often, I just don’t get it. But this isn’t the case with Okri. The poetry is clear, concise, and moving. In total, there are 17 pieces collected together in a beautifully produced book.
Ben Okri’s Tiger Work shows creativity is as important and as inspiring as it must be to have clean air to breathe and fresh water to drink. This is spiritual sustenance for weary social justice campaigners. It’s a great work of art.
As a writer, it means everything I write should be directed to the immediate end of drawing attention to the dire position we are in as a species. It means that the writing must have no frills. It should speak only truth. In it, the truth must be also beauty. It calls for the highest economy. It means that everything I do must have a singular purpose.
I remember the impact Okri’s essay had when I read it. I shared it on my social media and discussed it with a good friend and respected colleague. We agreed that given how humanity (for want of a better word) has taken us close to putting the Earth’s future in peril, our creativity must focus on advocating for animal rights, saving the environment, and educating people on how to live ethically and environmentally. Some of us need to escape reality by reading the latest Salman Rushdie or keeping up with episodes from our favourite soaps. But nothing else really matters any more. As Paul McCartney may have sung, “No More Silly Love Songs.”
Okri’s 2021 essay, “Artists must confront the climate crisis – we must write as if these are the last days,” is included in his new book, Tiger Work, but with a new title, “Existential Creativity.” When I discovered Okri’s new book, Tiger Work, and its subtitle, “Stories, essays and poems about climate change,” I knew it was something I had to read. I’m really glad I did. I had not read him before but was aware he’d won the Booker Prize for fiction a few years back.
As the subtitle indicates, this is an anthology of different writing styles centred around the climate crisis. There’s a short story, “The Secret Source,” about the centrality of water in our lives. There are short polemical pieces (“Letter to the Earth”) and there’s poetry. The latter is a way to write that troubles me. Often, I just don’t get it. But this isn’t the case with Okri. The poetry is clear, concise, and moving. In total, there are 17 pieces collected together in a beautifully produced book.
Ben Okri’s Tiger Work shows creativity is as important and as inspiring as it must be to have clean air to breathe and fresh water to drink. This is spiritual sustenance for weary social justice campaigners. It’s a great work of art.
June 30, 2025
Some of the stories were okay, the poems just felt a bit too straightforward for me “human bad, earth good” style
August 31, 2025
The author specifically instructs us to read slowly, so I've been reading one little chapter/section at a time. I'm not sure why this is important to him but I'm following his guidance in this. As a fast reader, I'm struggling a bit but I do have some other books to read in between.
It never feels right to say humans "raped" the earth. Idk why because when you think about it, it's true. I just hate seeing that word used in that way. It's used this way multiple times in the book.
It's a little more spiritual than I would have liked and there were times where I side-eyed the text but it also challenged me and I guess inspired me.
Letter to the earth is the worst part of this book. The author is explicitly asking the earth to make humans suffer "the way we deserve" and mentions that the pandemic was the beginning of this suffering. I truly can't get behind inviting suffering when you know full well who is going to suffer the most. This man is from Nigeria. You think the suffering is going to affect the billionnaires in the US and Europe? The climate change deniers in the Netherlands? No, it's gonna hit the poorest people the hardest, the global south. Do you really think this is going to wake the world up when you see how happy we are to bomb starving Yemenis for some perceived threat? How no one is stopping Israel's genocide of Palestinians? This is such an irresponsible request when you think about it for more than 2 seconds.
The author acknowledges himself later on that Africa is going to be most impacted by climate change. These two chapters are in complete conflict with one another.
Kerze is also not very good as far as poems go. Idk what happened to this middle part, why it's so much worse than everything else in this book.
I think overall the nonfiction parts were the weakest. I prefer the author's fiction and poetry to his essays.
Per the instructions, I took a whole week to read this book and I think that was the right decision, especially in the beginning. I would've been overwhelmed and maybe bored too if I read it all at once.
It's always weird to rate short story collections, especially when interspersed with poetry, and I think rather than going off of the average rating of all the stories I'm gonna go off vibes and give this 5 stars.
It never feels right to say humans "raped" the earth. Idk why because when you think about it, it's true. I just hate seeing that word used in that way. It's used this way multiple times in the book.
It's a little more spiritual than I would have liked and there were times where I side-eyed the text but it also challenged me and I guess inspired me.
Letter to the earth is the worst part of this book. The author is explicitly asking the earth to make humans suffer "the way we deserve" and mentions that the pandemic was the beginning of this suffering. I truly can't get behind inviting suffering when you know full well who is going to suffer the most. This man is from Nigeria. You think the suffering is going to affect the billionnaires in the US and Europe? The climate change deniers in the Netherlands? No, it's gonna hit the poorest people the hardest, the global south. Do you really think this is going to wake the world up when you see how happy we are to bomb starving Yemenis for some perceived threat? How no one is stopping Israel's genocide of Palestinians? This is such an irresponsible request when you think about it for more than 2 seconds.
The author acknowledges himself later on that Africa is going to be most impacted by climate change. These two chapters are in complete conflict with one another.
Kerze is also not very good as far as poems go. Idk what happened to this middle part, why it's so much worse than everything else in this book.
I think overall the nonfiction parts were the weakest. I prefer the author's fiction and poetry to his essays.
Per the instructions, I took a whole week to read this book and I think that was the right decision, especially in the beginning. I would've been overwhelmed and maybe bored too if I read it all at once.
It's always weird to rate short story collections, especially when interspersed with poetry, and I think rather than going off of the average rating of all the stories I'm gonna go off vibes and give this 5 stars.
July 15, 2023
I fit into the category of person who wants to reduce my impact on climate change but feel totally overwhelmed by it all so I went into this book braced for a harrowing, or at the very least, emotionally hard read. Of course, this book evokes an emotional response in readers (it wouldn't be a good book if it didn't) but it's so different to other climate crisis books I have read.
At the start of the book, Okri writes about how anger and fear-mongering isn't working in getting people to engage with climate action and that we need to nurture love to change the story. The rest of the book illustrated to me how this works.
Okri brings a poet's touch to the work, using his "existential creativity" to paint the picture of the end of the world as we know it so that we can imagine it, so the thought can exist in our minds alongside all our other thoughts, so that we can remember how precious it is that we are a part of a planet that nourishes and nurtures us. This way, we can feel the magnitude of our tiny, every day actions, as well as get perspective on huge governmental decisions, and still not feel overwhelmed. In his future fiction, Okri gives us a safe and engaging place to imagine the direction our current reality is taking us. He writes the cold, hard truth, but wraps it in bright, engaging stories that don't make us balk and put the book down.
A beautiful and important work from a refreshing voice in nature writing.
At the start of the book, Okri writes about how anger and fear-mongering isn't working in getting people to engage with climate action and that we need to nurture love to change the story. The rest of the book illustrated to me how this works.
Okri brings a poet's touch to the work, using his "existential creativity" to paint the picture of the end of the world as we know it so that we can imagine it, so the thought can exist in our minds alongside all our other thoughts, so that we can remember how precious it is that we are a part of a planet that nourishes and nurtures us. This way, we can feel the magnitude of our tiny, every day actions, as well as get perspective on huge governmental decisions, and still not feel overwhelmed. In his future fiction, Okri gives us a safe and engaging place to imagine the direction our current reality is taking us. He writes the cold, hard truth, but wraps it in bright, engaging stories that don't make us balk and put the book down.
A beautiful and important work from a refreshing voice in nature writing.
January 17, 2024
“This earth that we love is in grave danger because of us. Forests are becoming legends, rare as unicorns...”
Tiger Work is a powerful compilation of poems, essays and stories that convey an urgent message about climate change and humanity's “suicidal relationship with the earth.”
Okri certainly writes in an eloquent, imaginative, and urgent manner, but the book is only small, and the pieces are short, and this lends it well to dipping in and out. Maybe that's deliberate. Sure, we’re warned at the start to “read slowly”, take time and let the words sink in.
Like any collection, some pieces will be more enjoyable than others, and some resonate more deeply, too.
It's a small but mighty book we’d all benefit from reading: “We say that there is a climate emergency,” writes Okri. “But it is truer to say that there is a humanity emergency.”
4⭐
Many thanks to Head of Zeus for kindly sending me an advance proof copy; as always, this is an honest review.
Tiger Work is a powerful compilation of poems, essays and stories that convey an urgent message about climate change and humanity's “suicidal relationship with the earth.”
Okri certainly writes in an eloquent, imaginative, and urgent manner, but the book is only small, and the pieces are short, and this lends it well to dipping in and out. Maybe that's deliberate. Sure, we’re warned at the start to “read slowly”, take time and let the words sink in.
Like any collection, some pieces will be more enjoyable than others, and some resonate more deeply, too.
It's a small but mighty book we’d all benefit from reading: “We say that there is a climate emergency,” writes Okri. “But it is truer to say that there is a humanity emergency.”
4⭐
Many thanks to Head of Zeus for kindly sending me an advance proof copy; as always, this is an honest review.
September 19, 2025
yeah, look. i feel bad because this was clearly written with amazing intentions and the topic is close to the heart of the author but every single piece was so on the nose. everything felt so obvious and for that reason, i felt very detached from the pieces. none of them required any deeper thinking or reflection...the author was basically stating facts except it was no where near as interesting as a non-fiction.
May 7, 2023
A powerful collection of essays, stories, poetry and more. On their own, they are impactful but together it is really strong. Clear messaging, thought provoking and definitely one that will leave you thinking.
January 8, 2025
Beautiful, poignant and an essential read of our time. Accurate accounts of how it feels to tackle climate change
September 12, 2023
beautiful and terrifying
We should all read this. Don’t turn away. We have tiger work to do.
Okri’s love of the Earth and of people is visceral.
We should all read this. Don’t turn away. We have tiger work to do.
Okri’s love of the Earth and of people is visceral.
November 5, 2023
I don’t think I’m down with the idea of existential creativity. This was a lot of content on the same theme. Despite the repetitive and dreary topic and content, one or two of the stories (notably the tunnels one) and some particular poems carried real power. But it’s rather like the concept of each item is ruined by the way that you already know the message being crowbarred in regardless of label or content within.
July 8, 2024
This is the kind of book that changes you after you read it. You will no longer be the same person or view the world in the same way you once did.
It’s so wonderfully written and powerful and emotional and important!! So very important! Everyone needs to read this. On almost every single page I have something I’ve underlined or highlighted or dog-eared or tabbed, so good.
I got an ARC from NetGalley, but bought my own copy on release.
It’s so wonderfully written and powerful and emotional and important!! So very important! Everyone needs to read this. On almost every single page I have something I’ve underlined or highlighted or dog-eared or tabbed, so good.
I got an ARC from NetGalley, but bought my own copy on release.
June 27, 2023
6/21/2023 Dang it, pub date got pushed back a week, this is fiiiiiiiine. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
6/27/2023 Okay, if you're a Ben Okri fan, then this is likely going to be your jam. I hadn't read any of his award-winning work before this collection, so I absolutely jumped at the chance to read the latest publication of the first Black, and at the time youngest, winner of the Booker Prize. And it's about climate change, too? Sign me up!
The first indication that maybe I wasn't going to love this book as much as I wanted to came fairly early on, when the author states bluntly that he isn't going to provide any solutions for readers. Then what, I wondered, was the point of this book? Or perhaps more cogently: who is the intended audience? For people like myself, committed to climate justice and looking for meaningful ways to contribute to the movement, this collection serves, perhaps, as reassurance that we are not alone. Through poems, parables and non-fiction, Mr Okri emphasizes the importance of ending our reliance on fossil fuels and pursuing renewable energy, even as he laments the high rates at which humanity currently consumes the resources of the planet. But that's all preaching to the choir, and just another piece in the sea of climate change literature that environmentalists already consider daily.
Perhaps, I thought, this book is for people who've never really thought about the environment, or people with a reactionary disdain for us tree-huggers. After all, if science and facts and the evidence of their eyes and a sense of civic responsibility can't persuade these people, then perhaps heavy-handed art from a famous person can. I doubt it will make any in-roads with hard-core denialists, but the attempt to reach out and affect the hearts and minds of those who can be brought to reason is both valiant and worthwhile.
My personal favorite parts of the book were the letter and the fictions that dealt most closely with the modern day. While I had mixed feelings about And Peace Shall Return as a whole, the segment titled Those Deep Mines was stirring. And I really enjoyed The House Below, which serves as parable both for developing countries in the Global South and for the entire planet's approach to environmentalism.
But there were bits that just really, really bugged me. I think of myself as a practical, rational person who believes in climate change and who understands that while industry is the biggest global polluter, individuals can all do their part to save the planet. After getting over my initial disappointment that no concrete suggestions were going to be put forward in this book, I was mollified by the reminder that renewable energy sources exist... until I got to the bit about telepathic energy. Even assuming that Mr Okri was joking about that, I found myself sighing in exasperation over the equation of drowned Atlanteans (a fiction!) with the actual historical figures who died in ancient Pompeii. These are weirdly unserious takes in a book that is presumably trying to convince the reader of the seriousness of climate change.
I was also irritated by the tone shift in From A Sacred Place, which begins as a thoughtful manifesto on humanity coming together and accepting that the climate emergency is actually a human emergency, and how we all need to set aside our differences and work together to respect everyone's rights to a healthy planet. But then he caps the essay by stating that "no one in the West wants to scale down their lifestyle." Well that's a really convenient way to scapegoat exactly the wrong people!
I'm not saying that the West is populated by blameless angels. What I am saying is that wealth-hoarding people throughout the world, and even homegrown ones in the Global South, have plenty of interest in exploiting the planet's resources for their own gain. Even way back in the 1990s when I was a girl living in Malaysia, the usual pushback to (generally Western-led) efforts to be more environmentally-friendly went something along the lines of "oh, that's easy for them to say! They're rich already, and they only want to keep us down!" (which was an actual conversation I had with a well-regarded photojournalist I met on a train one day.) And lots of people, rich or poor, want to stay ignorant, or just assume that "God will provide." For example, the vast majority of the girls I went to a rural, underprivileged boarding school with didn't understand the value of conserving water even during a drought. Another friend had to make up some nonsense hydraulics issue to get them to shut the taps so water wouldn't just gush out and run wastefully down the drains again once water service was restored.
Would Tiger Work reach people like this, and perhaps make them understand the importance of working towards conservation and climate justice? I certainly hope so! Everyone has to start somewhere, and if this is the book that finally gets people to start taking climate change seriously, then more power to it.
Tiger Work: Poems, Stories And Essays About Climate Change by Ben Okri was published today June 27 2023 by Other Press and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
6/27/2023 Okay, if you're a Ben Okri fan, then this is likely going to be your jam. I hadn't read any of his award-winning work before this collection, so I absolutely jumped at the chance to read the latest publication of the first Black, and at the time youngest, winner of the Booker Prize. And it's about climate change, too? Sign me up!
The first indication that maybe I wasn't going to love this book as much as I wanted to came fairly early on, when the author states bluntly that he isn't going to provide any solutions for readers. Then what, I wondered, was the point of this book? Or perhaps more cogently: who is the intended audience? For people like myself, committed to climate justice and looking for meaningful ways to contribute to the movement, this collection serves, perhaps, as reassurance that we are not alone. Through poems, parables and non-fiction, Mr Okri emphasizes the importance of ending our reliance on fossil fuels and pursuing renewable energy, even as he laments the high rates at which humanity currently consumes the resources of the planet. But that's all preaching to the choir, and just another piece in the sea of climate change literature that environmentalists already consider daily.
Perhaps, I thought, this book is for people who've never really thought about the environment, or people with a reactionary disdain for us tree-huggers. After all, if science and facts and the evidence of their eyes and a sense of civic responsibility can't persuade these people, then perhaps heavy-handed art from a famous person can. I doubt it will make any in-roads with hard-core denialists, but the attempt to reach out and affect the hearts and minds of those who can be brought to reason is both valiant and worthwhile.
My personal favorite parts of the book were the letter and the fictions that dealt most closely with the modern day. While I had mixed feelings about And Peace Shall Return as a whole, the segment titled Those Deep Mines was stirring. And I really enjoyed The House Below, which serves as parable both for developing countries in the Global South and for the entire planet's approach to environmentalism.
But there were bits that just really, really bugged me. I think of myself as a practical, rational person who believes in climate change and who understands that while industry is the biggest global polluter, individuals can all do their part to save the planet. After getting over my initial disappointment that no concrete suggestions were going to be put forward in this book, I was mollified by the reminder that renewable energy sources exist... until I got to the bit about telepathic energy. Even assuming that Mr Okri was joking about that, I found myself sighing in exasperation over the equation of drowned Atlanteans (a fiction!) with the actual historical figures who died in ancient Pompeii. These are weirdly unserious takes in a book that is presumably trying to convince the reader of the seriousness of climate change.
I was also irritated by the tone shift in From A Sacred Place, which begins as a thoughtful manifesto on humanity coming together and accepting that the climate emergency is actually a human emergency, and how we all need to set aside our differences and work together to respect everyone's rights to a healthy planet. But then he caps the essay by stating that "no one in the West wants to scale down their lifestyle." Well that's a really convenient way to scapegoat exactly the wrong people!
I'm not saying that the West is populated by blameless angels. What I am saying is that wealth-hoarding people throughout the world, and even homegrown ones in the Global South, have plenty of interest in exploiting the planet's resources for their own gain. Even way back in the 1990s when I was a girl living in Malaysia, the usual pushback to (generally Western-led) efforts to be more environmentally-friendly went something along the lines of "oh, that's easy for them to say! They're rich already, and they only want to keep us down!" (which was an actual conversation I had with a well-regarded photojournalist I met on a train one day.) And lots of people, rich or poor, want to stay ignorant, or just assume that "God will provide." For example, the vast majority of the girls I went to a rural, underprivileged boarding school with didn't understand the value of conserving water even during a drought. Another friend had to make up some nonsense hydraulics issue to get them to shut the taps so water wouldn't just gush out and run wastefully down the drains again once water service was restored.
Would Tiger Work reach people like this, and perhaps make them understand the importance of working towards conservation and climate justice? I certainly hope so! Everyone has to start somewhere, and if this is the book that finally gets people to start taking climate change seriously, then more power to it.
Tiger Work: Poems, Stories And Essays About Climate Change by Ben Okri was published today June 27 2023 by Other Press and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
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July 5, 2023Ben Okri’s new publication Tiger Work straddles both fiction and nonfiction and primarily focuses on the environment and climate change, which is what first interested me in the work.
This is my first experience reading a text by Ben Okri, although I have wanted to read The Famished Road for many years now and haven’t gotten around to it. After reading this collection though, I’m going to make reading The Famished Road a priority because Okri’s writing is fantastic! It's the type of writing to immerse yourself and get lost in!
I’m not a big fan of contemporary/Postmodern poetry, but the poems in the collection, such as those in “The Broken”, including one with the same refrain present in the last poem of the collection titled “Anthem”, are beautiful and moving. Okri’s poems don’t include a lot of poetic devices, so if you’re not a fan of Modernist poetry (or poetry published prior to 1945) or don't enjoy reading poetry that tends to include poetic devices, then the poetry might appeal to you.
I feel that the longer works, such as “Three Parables” (a triptych), “The Last Solitude”, “And the Gods Departed”, “The House Below”, “The Songbird’s Silence”, “Letter to the Earth”, “Existential Creativity”, and “The Secret Source” were more enjoyable to read, and I appreciated the questions that were posed in those works in addition to the assertions that he makes…Even though those assertions feel more like accusations—and rightly so.
Okri’s work in this collection shifts the question of, “Is global warming real?” to: “When is the world going to end?” because I got the sense while reading Okri’s work that the characters and conversations led to only one outcome: the pending devastation and end of the world, and that perhaps that’s not the worst outcome. I’m not going to lie, I don’t disagree. As the world continues to warm up (I swear I just saw some headline in the news about a climatologist saying either that we’re precariously close to the temperature rising to 1.5 degrees warmer or we have already pushed ourselves over that 1.5 degree…Lovely.), Okri’s work couldn’t be timelier. I feel that this is a work that everyone needs to read because I’m convinced that humans need to face up to the terrible truth—including myself. We have only ourselves to blame for killing the only place we have to live, and no one is blameless.
So as I sit and continue to ruminate on this collection, I know I’m going to carry Okri’s words with me for a very long time—and I hope I do. Because to read Okri’s collection quickly, to disregard it as just another environmental manifesto, and to ignore yet another prophetic warning would be doing a great disservice to nature, wildlife, and to our fellow humans, and Okri knows we’re already heading towards disaster. In spite of where we’re taking ourselves, the tone in this collection is (at times) hopeful and powerful. It’s making me reconsider how I live my life. I’ve already given up my vehicle…Now how else may I contribute to an effort to save what we have for the next generation to come?
Many, many thanks to both NetGalley and Head of Zeus (Apollo) for allowing me to read an ARC of Ben Okri’s newest publication Tiger Work in exchange for an honest review.
This is my first experience reading a text by Ben Okri, although I have wanted to read The Famished Road for many years now and haven’t gotten around to it. After reading this collection though, I’m going to make reading The Famished Road a priority because Okri’s writing is fantastic! It's the type of writing to immerse yourself and get lost in!
I’m not a big fan of contemporary/Postmodern poetry, but the poems in the collection, such as those in “The Broken”, including one with the same refrain present in the last poem of the collection titled “Anthem”, are beautiful and moving. Okri’s poems don’t include a lot of poetic devices, so if you’re not a fan of Modernist poetry (or poetry published prior to 1945) or don't enjoy reading poetry that tends to include poetic devices, then the poetry might appeal to you.
I feel that the longer works, such as “Three Parables” (a triptych), “The Last Solitude”, “And the Gods Departed”, “The House Below”, “The Songbird’s Silence”, “Letter to the Earth”, “Existential Creativity”, and “The Secret Source” were more enjoyable to read, and I appreciated the questions that were posed in those works in addition to the assertions that he makes…Even though those assertions feel more like accusations—and rightly so.
Okri’s work in this collection shifts the question of, “Is global warming real?” to: “When is the world going to end?” because I got the sense while reading Okri’s work that the characters and conversations led to only one outcome: the pending devastation and end of the world, and that perhaps that’s not the worst outcome. I’m not going to lie, I don’t disagree. As the world continues to warm up (I swear I just saw some headline in the news about a climatologist saying either that we’re precariously close to the temperature rising to 1.5 degrees warmer or we have already pushed ourselves over that 1.5 degree…Lovely.), Okri’s work couldn’t be timelier. I feel that this is a work that everyone needs to read because I’m convinced that humans need to face up to the terrible truth—including myself. We have only ourselves to blame for killing the only place we have to live, and no one is blameless.
So as I sit and continue to ruminate on this collection, I know I’m going to carry Okri’s words with me for a very long time—and I hope I do. Because to read Okri’s collection quickly, to disregard it as just another environmental manifesto, and to ignore yet another prophetic warning would be doing a great disservice to nature, wildlife, and to our fellow humans, and Okri knows we’re already heading towards disaster. In spite of where we’re taking ourselves, the tone in this collection is (at times) hopeful and powerful. It’s making me reconsider how I live my life. I’ve already given up my vehicle…Now how else may I contribute to an effort to save what we have for the next generation to come?
Many, many thanks to both NetGalley and Head of Zeus (Apollo) for allowing me to read an ARC of Ben Okri’s newest publication Tiger Work in exchange for an honest review.
June 18, 2023
Lest we perish, lest we lose our only home
Ben Okri, poet, novelist essayist and more, has written an excoriating, impassioned, call to arm our hearts, bodies and souls.
As he repeatedly reminds us, most of us have always had our heads in the sands, ostrich like, in denial, for aeons and generations, in our appreciation and gratitude for this home of ours. Gaia, Mother Earth, all our sisters and brothers who are her children, whom she has nurtured and supported. Our sisters and brothers are not only each human other, but the plants and animals who live on, in, and above her. And even that earth itself, and those ocean beds, the very rocks which are also formed from the matter of organisms that arose time immemorial before us.
Choosing not to see that even taking no active position in the greed, the always dsire for more, and the tendency to ‘other’ every thing, place and person that is not me and mine, may no longer be enough.
Through parable, through story, through the clarion call of poetry, Okri reminds us we must all become warriors, tigers of the heart, in enough love for our earth to protect her, as actively, and tenderly as a tiger does her cubs. We must truly and actively love her, be her lover, be her warrior,
This is a deeply uncomfortable read, in many ways, a kind of ‘J’accuse’ to each and every one of us.
Okri has taken up his arms here, not with a stream of unavoidable data about climate change, global warming, weather disasters, details of lives lost in a stream of ‘unprecented’ extreme weather events. We often glaze over the visceral understanding of such facts. As an artist of language, Okri knows that heart and gut must be engaged, for true involvement.
Time and again, we are reminded that the other we need to love ‘as ourselves’ is all of it. You, me, and all that dances, creeps, crawls, swims, flies, roots and shoots on, in, under and above the extraordinary planet of ours.
We have spent too long looking this gift horse in the mouth, rather than filled with awe and gratitude for this treasure
‘Read slowly’ Okri asks us. If we do, the magnificent riches in the short concentrated book will rightly overwhelm us, giving endless pause for deep thought.
Ben Okri, poet, novelist essayist and more, has written an excoriating, impassioned, call to arm our hearts, bodies and souls.
As he repeatedly reminds us, most of us have always had our heads in the sands, ostrich like, in denial, for aeons and generations, in our appreciation and gratitude for this home of ours. Gaia, Mother Earth, all our sisters and brothers who are her children, whom she has nurtured and supported. Our sisters and brothers are not only each human other, but the plants and animals who live on, in, and above her. And even that earth itself, and those ocean beds, the very rocks which are also formed from the matter of organisms that arose time immemorial before us.
Choosing not to see that even taking no active position in the greed, the always dsire for more, and the tendency to ‘other’ every thing, place and person that is not me and mine, may no longer be enough.
Through parable, through story, through the clarion call of poetry, Okri reminds us we must all become warriors, tigers of the heart, in enough love for our earth to protect her, as actively, and tenderly as a tiger does her cubs. We must truly and actively love her, be her lover, be her warrior,
This is a deeply uncomfortable read, in many ways, a kind of ‘J’accuse’ to each and every one of us.
Okri has taken up his arms here, not with a stream of unavoidable data about climate change, global warming, weather disasters, details of lives lost in a stream of ‘unprecented’ extreme weather events. We often glaze over the visceral understanding of such facts. As an artist of language, Okri knows that heart and gut must be engaged, for true involvement.
Time and again, we are reminded that the other we need to love ‘as ourselves’ is all of it. You, me, and all that dances, creeps, crawls, swims, flies, roots and shoots on, in, under and above the extraordinary planet of ours.
We have spent too long looking this gift horse in the mouth, rather than filled with awe and gratitude for this treasure
‘Read slowly’ Okri asks us. If we do, the magnificent riches in the short concentrated book will rightly overwhelm us, giving endless pause for deep thought.
July 6, 2023
Can’t you hear the Future weeping?”
An artist’s ardent plea for change.
Ben Okris Tiger work ist ein Buch, das viel bietet: poems, prosageschichten, essays.
Verbunden sind die Texte durch das Thema Climate change.
Es beginnt mit drei Parabeln über Wasser.
Dann ein mehrteiliges Gedicht The Broken
Es folgen Stories.
Zentral steht das titelgebene Gedicht, das zu den Höhepunkten des Buches gehört.
Das gilt auch für die parabelhaft erzählte Story The House below.
Mit The songbirds silence ist sogar eine Story für Kinder dabei. Es gibt auch ein kurzes Interview.
Unbedingt erwähnenswert ist auch die 11 Kapitel umfassende, dystopische Erzählung After the end.
Es folgt noch einiges bis das Buch mir Anthem schliesst.
Es ist ein Buch, dass viele bemerkenswerte Texte enthält und den Leser nicht kalt lässt.
Ben Okris Tiger work is a book that offers a lot: poems, prose stories, essays. The texts are linked by the topic of climate change.
It begins with three parabolas about water. Then a multi-part poem The Broken
Stories follow.
The eponymous poem, which is one of the highlights of the book, is central.
This also applies to the parable-like story The House below.
With The songbirds silence there is even a story for children.
There is also a short interview.
Also worth mentioning is the 11-chapter dystopian tale After the end. There is still a lot to come before the book closes with Anthem.
It is a book that contains many remarkable texts and does not leave the reader indifferent.
An artist’s ardent plea for change.
Ben Okris Tiger work ist ein Buch, das viel bietet: poems, prosageschichten, essays.
Verbunden sind die Texte durch das Thema Climate change.
Es beginnt mit drei Parabeln über Wasser.
Dann ein mehrteiliges Gedicht The Broken
Es folgen Stories.
Zentral steht das titelgebene Gedicht, das zu den Höhepunkten des Buches gehört.
Das gilt auch für die parabelhaft erzählte Story The House below.
Mit The songbirds silence ist sogar eine Story für Kinder dabei. Es gibt auch ein kurzes Interview.
Unbedingt erwähnenswert ist auch die 11 Kapitel umfassende, dystopische Erzählung After the end.
Es folgt noch einiges bis das Buch mir Anthem schliesst.
Es ist ein Buch, dass viele bemerkenswerte Texte enthält und den Leser nicht kalt lässt.
Ben Okris Tiger work is a book that offers a lot: poems, prose stories, essays. The texts are linked by the topic of climate change.
It begins with three parabolas about water. Then a multi-part poem The Broken
Stories follow.
The eponymous poem, which is one of the highlights of the book, is central.
This also applies to the parable-like story The House below.
With The songbirds silence there is even a story for children.
There is also a short interview.
Also worth mentioning is the 11-chapter dystopian tale After the end. There is still a lot to come before the book closes with Anthem.
It is a book that contains many remarkable texts and does not leave the reader indifferent.
May 14, 2023
Well here was something different. Ben Okri has returned with a new work, a collection of pieces centred around one central theme: climate change. There are short stories, poems, interviews, essays.
Right at the start Okri recommends we "read slowly." I took this work one piece at a time, spending time afterwards to ruminate on the message behind the text. Okri is not didactic here, does not labour his point, but simply shows things as they are, as he sees them, and offers thoughts for the future. This alone makes it an essential work.
It is not a work all will agree with. Climate change is a provocative subject. It is hard, however, to disagree with the central message: that unless we care for what we have now, we will lose it forever.
Not every piece here worked as well as the other, but every one of them had something to take away from them, everyone of them had a moment of beauty. It is a slim volume but it contains multitudes.
Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.
Right at the start Okri recommends we "read slowly." I took this work one piece at a time, spending time afterwards to ruminate on the message behind the text. Okri is not didactic here, does not labour his point, but simply shows things as they are, as he sees them, and offers thoughts for the future. This alone makes it an essential work.
It is not a work all will agree with. Climate change is a provocative subject. It is hard, however, to disagree with the central message: that unless we care for what we have now, we will lose it forever.
Not every piece here worked as well as the other, but every one of them had something to take away from them, everyone of them had a moment of beauty. It is a slim volume but it contains multitudes.
Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.
November 9, 2023
This book consists of a mixed bag of fiction, science fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose, short stories, a novella, an interview, an opinion piece, and an essay making passionate pleas that we must act now to address the climate crisis. Their overarching theme is that if we don’t take immediate action to combat climate change, humanity as we know it will go extinct because earth will become uninhabitable.
Subjects such as the conservation and protection of animals and their habitats, the forests, rivers and oceans are touched upon. The need to reduce the use of fossil fuels and plastics, and the pollution of our environment are also themes in stories, poems and essays that can standalone.
Some of the stories are heart wrenching and reach their target audiences with their compelling messages. A few are near misses or fall flat.
Subjects such as the conservation and protection of animals and their habitats, the forests, rivers and oceans are touched upon. The need to reduce the use of fossil fuels and plastics, and the pollution of our environment are also themes in stories, poems and essays that can standalone.
Some of the stories are heart wrenching and reach their target audiences with their compelling messages. A few are near misses or fall flat.
December 15, 2024
This book is a collection of fiction,essays and poetry centred around the common subject of climate change. He approaches the work in an easily understandable manner yet with both passion and intelligence without sacrificing his lyrical blend of storytelling,fantasy and magic.
A throughly enjoyable book yet still providing a thoughtful insight into the consequences that could inhibit life if climate change is not addressed.
A throughly enjoyable book yet still providing a thoughtful insight into the consequences that could inhibit life if climate change is not addressed.
July 23, 2025
Incredible, really. Provoked so many thoughts and emotions. This is a collection about humans’ “suicidal relationship with the earth”, yes, but even more so about the reimagination of human consciousness and centering love in how we interact (within our species, with the planet).
I’d read a few of these essays/poems before individually, but was so impressed by the curation and flow. To be read slowly, with a pen and journal close by.
I’d read a few of these essays/poems before individually, but was so impressed by the curation and flow. To be read slowly, with a pen and journal close by.
November 17, 2023
What a wonderful book. The mix of essays, short stories, and poems is nothing short of magical. Okri takes us into the climate crisis, helping us imagine the world(s) to come. This is a must read for anyone interested in the environment. It's also a book everyone in the environmental humanities should be teaching from.
August 3, 2024
I love Ben Okri’s work and the subject matter is fantastic, but a lot of this work felt too on-the-nose, which was a disappointment. Not a fan of his poetry, and a lot of the stories just failed to engage me. I did love The House Below, Existential Creativity, and The Secret Source. Worth a read for sure, but maybe I had too high of hopes.
May 12, 2025
i just want to say- please don't take my 3 star rating as an excuse not to read this book. it is so very important and really made me think about the climate crisis. it is a gorgeous collection of stories, poems and lived experience.
however, i felt that these stories were very shoehorned together- i'm sure they may have flowed better in a different order, and that they were either far too short or far too long
however, i felt that these stories were very shoehorned together- i'm sure they may have flowed better in a different order, and that they were either far too short or far too long
September 23, 2023
A beautiful compilation of writing that feels very honest, thoughtful and considered.
February 27, 2024
4.5 stars
January 16, 2024
Excellent theme but a very childish , seems half hearted attempt from a writer of his stature. Dnf half way through.
December 7, 2024
“The facts are horrific / The evidence overwhelming / And still we carry on / As if no crisis were looming.”
This is not a book where you find an ultimate answer; but rather, finding a way to speak and comprehend something that you believe is on your mind but just couldn't easily articulate it.
This is not a book where you find an ultimate answer; but rather, finding a way to speak and comprehend something that you believe is on your mind but just couldn't easily articulate it.
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