Losing the Plot

LONGLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PRIZE 2023

LONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2023

SHORTLISTED FOR PEOPLE'S BOOK PRIZE - FICTION 2023

'A highly enigmatic, affectionate and robustly written
portrayal of a mother-son relationship . . . very relatable' Diana Evans

Driven by a deep-seated desire to understand his mother's
life before he was born, Derek Owusu offers a powerful imagining of her
journey. As she moves from Ghana to the UK and navigates parenthood in a
strange and often lonely environment, the effects of displacement are felt
across generations. Told through the eyes of both mother and son, Losing the
Plot is at once emotionally raw and playful as Owusu experiments with form to
piece together the immigrant experience and explore how the stories we share and
tell ourselves are just as vital as the ones we don't.

Derek Owusu is a writer, poet and podcaster from North London. In 2016 he joined the multi-award-winning literature podcast Mostly Lit. He also produced the well-received This Is Spoke podcast for Penguin Random House and Freemantle Media. His essay on Black men and insecurities was the second-most-read article on Media Diversified in 2018, and his essay on language was picked up by BBC Newsnight to be turned into a short documentary. In 2019 Derek collated, edited and contributed to Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space. His debut novel, That Reminds Me, won the Desmond Elliott Prize.