Black Bag by Luke Kennard
“A genre-defying, big-swing of a novel with a Kafkaesque premise.”—Andrew Boryga
Find yourself in Black Bag: a warped campus novel, an investigation into masculinity, and an off-kilter love story.
- Sale Date
- ISBN
- 9781638933397
- Page Count
- 288
- Language
- English
- Imprint
- Zando
Meet the Author
Luke Kennard
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2026
“The funniest and smartest novel I've read in a while.” —Zadie Smith
An out-of-work actor accepts the role of a lifetime—sitting soundlessly in a lecture theater, zipped into a large leather bag—to aid a professor’s psychological experiment. What could possibly go wrong?
In Luke Kennard’s audacious new novel, a penniless and out-of-work actor picks up a job working for Dr. Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. Dr. Blend wants to know: how will his students react to someone zipped into an oversized bag, sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a series of Fall lectures?
The role, eagerly accepted, soon yields unexpected consequences, from a professor of post-humanism developing research questions of her own—in particular, can you love someone secreted away inside a black bag?—to the actor’s childhood friend forming a vision for monetizing this unique new situation. In the end, only Black Bag will be able to say what it all means . . .
A warped campus novel, an investigation into the crisis of masculinity, and an off-kilter love story, Black Bag is a firework of a novel: blazingly funny and profoundly humane.
“A genre-defying, big-swing of a novel . . . a sharply funny meditation on masculinity, academia, the modern attention economy, and the quiet desperation of everyday life.” —Andrew Boryga, author of Victim
“The funniest and smartest novel I've read in a while.” —Zadie Smith
An out-of-work actor accepts the role of a lifetime—sitting soundlessly in a lecture theater, zipped into a large leather bag—to aid a professor’s psychological experiment. What could possibly go wrong?
In Luke Kennard’s audacious new novel, a penniless and out-of-work actor picks up a job working for Dr. Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. Dr. Blend wants to know: how will his students react to someone zipped into an oversized bag, sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a series of Fall lectures?
The role, eagerly accepted, soon yields unexpected consequences, from a professor of post-humanism developing research questions of her own—in particular, can you love someone secreted away inside a black bag?—to the actor’s childhood friend forming a vision for monetizing this unique new situation. In the end, only Black Bag will be able to say what it all means . . .
A warped campus novel, an investigation into the crisis of masculinity, and an off-kilter love story, Black Bag is a firework of a novel: blazingly funny and profoundly humane.
“A genre-defying, big-swing of a novel . . . a sharply funny meditation on masculinity, academia, the modern attention economy, and the quiet desperation of everyday life.” —Andrew Boryga, author of Victim
Praise for Black Bag
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“The funniest and smartest novel I've read in a while.”
Zadie Smith -
“Kennard is a poet by trade and it shows. He gives several flamboyant inner monologues to a Border collie, and an inspired riff on Justine’s ‘atavastic’ personal hygiene products reads like a description of Ziggy Stardust’s Dopp kit. The plot, such as it is, often veers off in odd and cosmic directions. But I like this book’s verve and style, and I often agreed with the dog.”
New York Times -
“Luke Kennard’s of-the-moment satire considers anonymity and disgust, the online rackets of cryptocurrency and energy drinks, and what it means to find love in our unstable times. There’ll be a lot of discussion about what the novel has to say about the state of modern masculinity (fractious; confused) – we also admired its sharply crafted sentences, memorable sex scenes, and humour.”
The Booker Prize
Press for Black Bag
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Luke Kennard’s Book Notes music playlist for his novel Black Bag
Largehearted Boy
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Black Bag | Excerpt
Literary Hub
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Author Luke Kennard talks about his novel, 'Black Bag'
NPR
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1027.Luke Kennard
Otherppl with Brad Listi
About the Imprint
Where the unexpected lives. Fiction that surprises. Nonfiction that sticks. The Zando imprint publishes weird, wonderful, and culture-shaping stories from authors with something to say . . . and the confidence to say it loudly.
