MICHEL THE GIANT, an African in Greenland, translated by James Kirk, afterword translated by Ros Schwartz

325pp., paperback, New Edition, Penguin Books, London, 2022

ISBN: 9780241554531

First published in 1981 in France as L'Africain du Greenland.

This translation first published in 1983 in USA and UK as An African in Greenland.

This edition includes a new afterword by the author.

Tété-Michel Kpomassie's engrossing account of his expedition from his village in Togo, West Africa, to the Arctic Circle.

As a teen he found a book,The Eskimos from Greenland to Alaska. In 1958, aged 17, he ran away and undertook a 12-year journey through West Africa and Europe to reach Greenland, where he spent 18 months immersed in the life and customs of the Inuit people and the landscapes that had captured his imagination.

"Was there ever an odyssey like this one? It is a long way in miles, but even longer in resilience, adventurous persistence and uncanny charm." Paul Zweig, The New York Times Book Review

"Surprising ... this beautifully written, page-turning piece of unjudgemental anthropological reportage by a black man finding his soul through seeking the soul of the Inuit recognises an important lesson for today." Sue Prideaux, The Times 

Tété-Michel Kpomassie was born in 1941 Togo, West Africa. An African in Greenland, was awarded the Prix Littéraire Francophone International in 1981.