Black British Writing


Book Description

This collection of essays provides an imaginative international perspective on ways to incorporate black British writing and culture in the study of English literature, and presents theoretically sophisticated and practical strategies for doing so. It offers a pedagogical, pragmatic and ideological introduction to the field for those without background, and an integrated body of current and stimulating essays for those who are already knowledgeable. Contributors to this volume include scholars and writers from Britain and the U.S. Following on recent developments in African American literature, postcolonial studies and race studies, the contributors invite readers to imagine an enhanced and inclusive British canon through varied essays providing historical information, critical analysis, cultural perspective, and extensive annotated bibliographies for further study.




The Cambridge History of Black and Asian British Writing


Book Description

The Cambridge History of Black and Asian British Writing provides a comprehensive historical overview of the diverse literary traditions impacting on this field's evolution, from the eighteenth century to the present. Drawing on the expertise of over forty international experts, this book gathers innovative scholarship to look forward to new readings and perspectives, while also focusing on undervalued writers, texts, and research areas. Creating new pathways to engage with the naming of a field that has often been contested, readings of literary texts are interwoven throughout with key political, social, and material contexts. In making visible the diverse influences constituting past and contemporary British literary culture, this Cambridge History makes a unique contribution to British, Commonwealth, postcolonial, transnational, diasporic, and global literary studies, serving both as one of the first major reference works to cover four centuries of black and Asian British literary history and as a compass for future scholarship.




Beyond Slavery and Abolition


Book Description

Shows how black writers helped to build modern Britain by looking beyond the questions of slavery and abolition.




Early Black British Writing


Book Description

This volume combines popular texts with hard-to-find selections in a format that enables students to place them in their historical and cultural contexts. For instructors, the collection offers reliable texts, stimulating context pieces, and the most useful modern critical essays.




A History of Black and Asian Writing in Britain


Book Description

The first extended study of black and Asian writing in Britain, now updated and available in paperback.




Dwelling Places


Book Description

Extending geographically from London to Glasgow James Procter's study explores black literary and cultural production across the post World War Two period. The author considers how places like dwellings, bedsits and public spaces, contribute to the travelling theories of diaspora discourse.




Ic3


Book Description

A celebratory 20th anniversary edition of A landmark collection from black writers across the literary spectrum 'The fact that IC3, the police identity for Black, is the only collective term that relates to our situation here as residents ('Black British' is political and refers to Africans, Asians, West Indians, Americans and sometimes even Chinese) is a sad fact of life I could not ignore' from Courttia Newland's Introduction, 2000 First published twenty years ago into a different literary landscape, IC3 showcases the work of more than 100 black British authors, celebrating their lasting contributions to literature and British culture. It spans a wealth of genres to demonstrate the range and astonishing literary achievements of black writers, including: Poetry from Roger Robinson, Bernardine Evaristo, Jackie Kay and Benjamin Zephaniah. Short stories from Ferdinand Dennis, Diana Evans, Catherine Jonson, E.A. Markham and Ray Shell. Essays from Floella Benjamin, Linda Bellos, Treva Etienne, Kevin Le Gendre and Labi Siffre. Memoirs from Margaret Busby, Henry Bonsu, Buchi Emecheta, Leone Ross, and many others. Featuring a new introduction from original editors Kadija Sesay and Courttia Newland, this collection reflects on the legacy of these writers, their extraordinary work, and stands as a reminder that black British writers remain underrepresented in literature today.




The Lonely Londoners


Book Description

Both devastating and funny, The Lonely Londoners is an unforgettable account of immigrant experience - and one of the great twentieth-century London novels At Waterloo Station, hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies step off the boat train, ready to start afresh in 1950s London. There, homesick Moses Aloetta, who has already lived in the city for years, meets Henry 'Sir Galahad' Oliver and shows him the ropes. In this strange, cold and foggy city where the natives can be less than friendly at the sight of a black face, has Galahad met his Waterloo? But the irrepressible newcomer cannot be cast down. He and all the other lonely new Londoners - from shiftless Cap to Tolroy, whose family has descended on him from Jamaica - must try to create a new life for themselves. As pessimistic 'old veteran' Moses watches their attempts, they gradually learn to survive and come to love the heady excitements of London. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Susheila Nasta. 'His Lonely Londoners has acquired a classics status since it appeared in 1956 as the definitive novel about London's West Indians' Financial Times 'The unforgettable picaresque ... a vernacular comedy of pathos' Guardian




Sista Sister


Book Description

Candice Brathwaite's much-anticipated second book about all the things she wishes she'd been told when she was young and needed guidance. I Am Not Your Baby Mother was a landmark publication in 2020. A thought-provoking, urgent and inspirational guide to life as a Black British mum, it was an important call-to-arms allowing mothers to take control and scrap the parenting rulebook to do it their own way. It was a Sunday Times top five bestseller. Sista Sister goes further. It is a compilation of essays about all the things Candice wishes someone had talked to her about when she was a young Black girl growing up in London. From family and money to Black hair and fashion, as well as relationships between people of different races and colourism, this will be a fascinating read that will have another profound impact on conversations about Black Lives Matter. Written in Candice's trademark straight-talking, warm and funny style, it will delight her fans, old and new.




Keisha the Sket


Book Description

Where were you when Keisha the Sket first broke the internet? Keisha is a girl from the ends, sharp, feisty and ambitious; she's been labelled 'top sket' but she's making it work. When childhood crush and long-time admirer, Ricardo, finally wins her over, Keisha has it all: power, a love life and the chance for stability. But trauma comes knocking and with it a whirlwind of choices that will define what kind of a woman she truly wants to be. Told with the heart and soul of the inner city, with an unforgettable heroine, Keisha the sket is a revelation of the true, raw, arousing and tender core of British youth culture.