LATEST
“She wrote exactly how it was to live, love, and be in endz”: A conversation with Lemara Lindsay-Prince
“For so many of us Black Brits, the anonymous writer of Keisha The Sket—Jade LB—is as fundamental to the canon as Shakespeare or Dickens.”
A rapid-fire Q&A with Abi Daré
In her latest conversation with her favourite author, literary influencer Hena J. Bryan (some know her as Bookish Babe) asks the questions we’ve all been wanting answered.
“Children’s books should be for all children”: A conversation with Jasmine Richards
Storymix is an inclusive fiction studio with social purpose that creates high-quality, original concept series with inclusive casts of characters, putting children of colour at the centre of the action.
How to Manage Your Relationship’s Relationship with Social Media
The Hive opens with a confession: Charlotte has killed her ex-boyfriend's partner, and now invites you to vote on whether he should live or die via Instagram.
Dear Senthuran explores the highs and lows of being a god
It would be hard for anyone to finish Dear Senthuran without a change—a change in perspective, understanding, knowledge. Knowing your identity is one thing, but living it is another. Emezi does both.
Why I Write
I write to call their names. The same way we say Breonna, Sandra Bland, George Floyd, Trayvon, Botham Jean, Dante Wright, Nizah Morris. I write in celebration.
FEATURED
“Books work better when illustrators are allowed to shape the story”: A conversation with Dapo Adeola
children’s, illustration
The winner of the 2020 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, Dapo Adeola spills on everything from his unique creative processes to how the publishing industry mistreats its illustrators.
When Mr Mandela Came to Town: The Story Behind the Book
children’s, memoir
I remember the day so vividly. It was the summer of 1996—July to be exact. I was 11 years old and in my last year of primary school. I can remember the atmosphere was electric. He captivated audiences wherever he went. I explicitly remember my dad saying: “This is history in the making, better than any book you will ever read.” Ironically, 25 years later, I have now written about this very experience in a book titled When Mr Mandela Came to Town.
The first title originally written in an African language longlisted for the Booker
verse novel, folktale
The Perfect Nine is the first ever title originally written in an African language longlisted for a Booker Prize. Ngugi Wa Thiong’o is also the first to be nominated as both author and translator of the same book. A modern take on the origin story of Kenya’s Gĩkũyũ people, it is one those rare books about history that has, itself, made history. None is more deserving of these accolades than Wa Thiong’o.
How Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s great Ugandan novel shows us other ways of knowing
Africanjujuism, literary
It may surprise a few to know that Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s debut, a now-established classic of African literature, was rejected by British publishers for being ‘too African’.
"I am not a planner": A conversation with Chibundu Onuzo
mystery, literary
Borne out of her doctoral research on the West African Student Union of 1920s London, Sankofa marks a departure from Chibundu Onuzo’s first two novels.
All I want for Christmas is the death of lazy, “diversity” language
industry news
Whilst we strive for an industry that reflects the ethnic makeup of its surroundings, we should also strive for specificity in how we talk about people that truly respects the diversity of our world.
TREAT YOUR SHELF
15 Coming-of-Age Novels in English Translation
literary, translation
This list brings together the stories of Black youth from all four corners, moving away from the dominance of Anglophone voices.
10 Classic Epic Poems from the Black Atlantic
epic, poetry
So begins the project of chronologising and mapping the epos of the Black Atlantic across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
6 Unforgettable Black Poetry Collections
poetry
From the concrete heights of a North Peckham estate to the azure shores of the Zambezi River, these poetry collections are brilliant.
THE DOWNLOW
“This book was the way to offer a kind of solidarity”: A conversation with Emmanuel Iduma
travel, experimental
A Stranger’s Pose, is a dreamy travelogue and memoir through west and north Africa that explores the nature of estrangement, identity and grief among other things.
“I felt that I had grown up and become Jewell Parker Rhodes”: A conversation with Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes
children’s, historical
Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes sheds light on learning literary traditions from her dear Grandmother and how to adapt oral culture for printed children’s books.
“I’m writing the stories I need to write”: A conversation with Dean Atta
YA, verse novel
Dean Atta is a Greek-Cypriot Jamaican-British poet who was named one of the most influential LGBT people in Britain by the Independent on Sunday.
