Michel the Giant

Michel the Giant

An African in Greenland

Summary

The gripping true story of one man's ten year expedition from a village in West Africa to the Arctic Circle

WITH A NEW AFTERWORD BY THE AUTHOR

Scorching heat, rich, fertile soil, and treacherous snakes marked the landscape in which Tété-Michel grew up in 1950s Togo, West Africa. When he discovered a book on Greenland as a teen, this distant land became an instant obsession - he was determined to journey to the place these pages had revealed to him and embarked on the adventure of a lifetime.

A book of rich and immersive travel writing, Michel the Giant invites the reader to journey alongside an audacious Kpomassie as he makes his way from the equator to the bitter cold of the artic and settles into life with the Inuit peoples, adapting to their foods and customs. Part memoir, part anthropological observation this captivating narrative teems with nuanced observations on community, belonging and the universality of human experience.

This title has been previously published as An African in Greenland

Reviews

  • Remarkable . . . skilful storytelling . . . intrepidly adventurous and unconventional . . . couldn't be more relevant. The kinship he felt with the Inuit on that first visit saw the publication of a literary work that was well ahead of its time.
    Michael Segalov, Observer

About the author

Tété-Michel Kpomassie

Tété-Michel Kpomassie was born in 1941 Togo, West Africa. His critically acclaimed travelogue, An African in Greenland, was awarded the Prix Littéraire Francophone International in 1981 and shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1983.
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