Featured titles
Olaudah Equiano (Author)
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Vincent Carrett (Introducer)
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Vincent Carrett (Edited by)
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Vincent Carrett (Notes by)
An exciting and often terrifying adventure story, and a precursor to the famous nineteenth-century slave narratives, Equiano's The Interesting Narrative recounts his kidnapping in Africa aged ten, his service as a slave of an officer in the British Navy for ten years, and his life after he bought his freedom in 1766, growing to become one of the foremost figures of the anti-slavery movement in Britain.
The Interesting Narrative is a spirited autobiography, a tale of spiritual quest and fulfillment and a sophisticated treatise on religion, politics and economics.
Sam Selvon (Author)
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Nasta Susheila (Introducer)
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.
C L R James (Author)
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James Walvin (Introducer)
In 1791, inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution, the slaves of San Domingo rose in revolt. Despite invasion by a series of British, Spanish and Napoleonic armies, their twelve-year struggle led to the creation of Haiti, the first independent black republic outside Africa. Only three years later, the British and Americans ended the Atlantic slave trade.
In this outstanding example of vivid, committed and empathetic historical analysis, C. L. R. James illuminates these epoch-making events. He explores the appalling economic realities of the Caribbean economy, the roots of the world's only successful slave revolt and the utterly extraordinary former slave - Toussaint L'Ouverture - who led them. Explicitly written as part of the fight to end colonialism in Africa, The Black Jacobins put the slaves themselves centre stage, boldly forging their own destiny against nearly impossible odds. It remains one of the essential texts for understanding the Caribbean - and the region's inextricable links with Europe, Africa and the Americas.
Chinua Achebe (Author)
Beautifully written yet highly controversial, An Image of Africa asserts Achebe's belief in Joseph Conrad as a 'bloody racist' and his conviction that Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness only serves to perpetuate damaging stereotypes of black people. Also included is The Trouble with Nigeria, Achebe's searing outpouring of his frustrations with his country.
GREAT IDEAS. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.
Zadie Smith (Author)
First published in the year 2000, Zadie Smith’s White Teeth was one of the most celebrated novels of the new millennium. Adored by critics and readers alike, it remains a perennial bestseller, which still delights with the audacity of its scope and vision, its fresh-minted style, and the wit and warmth of its voice.
Funny, generous and big-hearted, it deals – among many other things – with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle.
A life affirming, riotous must-read of a book, it won the Guardian First Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread First Novel Award.
Monica Ali (Author)
***As dramatised on BBC Radio Four***
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE
THE SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A RICHARD AND JUDY PICK
'Written with a wisdom and skill that few authors attain in a lifetime' SUNDAY TIMES
Still in her teenage years, Nazneen finds herself in an arranged marriage with a disappointed older man. Away from her Bangladeshi village, home is now a cramped flat in a high-rise block in London's East End. Nazneen knows not a word of English, and is forced to depend on her husband.
Confined in her tiny flat, Nazneen sews furiously for a living, shut away with her buttons and linings - until the radical Karim steps unexpectedly into her life. On a background of racial conflict and tension, they embark on a love affair that forces Nazneen finally to take control of her fate.
A GRANTA BEST OF BRITISH YOUNG NOVELIST
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD
'A brilliant evocation of sensuality' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'A novel that will last' GUARDIAN
'Highly evolved and accomplished' OBSERVER
Reader's love for BRICK LANE:
'Memorable and gripping' *****
'The kind of book that changes your perception of the world' *****
'This has become a classic and i can see why'*****
'Funny, sharp and very touching' *****
Sarah Howe (Author)
*WINNER OF THE T. S. ELIOT PRIZE 2015*
*WINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES / PETERS FRASER + DUNLOP YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2015*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION 2015*
There is a Chinese proverb that says: ‘It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters.’ But geese, like daughters, know the obligation to return home. In her exquisite first collection, Sarah Howe explores a dual heritage, journeying back to Hong Kong in search of her roots.
With extraordinary range and power, the poems build into a meditation on hybridity, intermarriage and love – what meaning we find in the world, in art, and in each other. Crossing the bounds of time, race and language, this is an enthralling exploration of self and place, of migration and inheritance, and introduces an unmistakable new voice in British poetry.
Bernardine Evaristo (Author)
Grace is a Victorian orphan dreaming of the mysterious African father she will never meet.
Winsome is a young Windrush bride, recently arrived from Barbados.
Amma is the fierce queen of her 1980s squatters' palace.
Morgan, who used to be Megan, is blowing up on social media, the newest activist-influencer on the block.
Twelve very different people, mostly black and female, more than a hundred years of change, and one sweeping, vibrant, glorious portrait of contemporary Britain. Bernardine Evaristo presents a gloriously new kind of history for this old country: ever-dynamic, ever-expanding and utterly irresistible.
Caleb Azumah Nelson (Author)
Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists - he a photographer, she a dancer - trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence.
At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British debut of recent years.
Nazneen Ahmed Pathak (Author)
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Sandhya Prabhat (Illustrator)
A spellbinding, epic and heart-racing magical adventure from an exquisite new storytelling talent.
'Ahmed Pathak is a wonderful new voice; the book took her years to write, and it shows in the depth and care of each beat of the story' - Katherine Rundell
'A wonderful writer who paints a thoroughly convincing heroine' - The Daily Telegraph
India, 1855. The British rule, and all across the country, Indian magic is being stamped out.
More terrifying still, people born with magic are being snatched from their homes. Rumour is that they are being taken across the sea - to England - by the all-powerful, sinister Company.
When Chompa's home is attacked and her mother viciously kidnapped, Chompa - born with powerful and dangerous magic that she has always been forbidden from using - must travel to the smoky, bustling streets of East London in search of her. But Chompa will discover far more treachery in London than she had bargained for - and will learn that every act of her rare magic comes with a price . . .
'Cracking pace, fabulous magic system, characters, relationships . . . The whole package' - Louie Stowell
'An unexpected gem of a story . . . A stellar setting, a gut-punch of a twist, and an unforgettable heroine. This has all the hallmarks of classic children's storytelling' - Nizrana Farook
'Phenomenal' - Sophie Anderson
'Dazzling from start to finish' - Abi Elphinstone
'A gripping and spellbinding fantasy woven together with threads of magic, secrets and colonial history . . . An incredible cast of characters and a truly multicultural Victorian London that we don't see often enough' - Rashmi Sirdeshpande
'A wonderfully vibrant debut . . . A vivid magical adventure' - Jasbinder Bilan
Diane Abbott (Author)
From challenging expectations as a bright and restless child of the Windrush generation to making history as the first elected Black female MP in the UK, Diane Abbott has seen it all.
A Woman Like Me takes readers through Diane’s incredible journey, painting a vivid picture of growing up in 1960s North London with her working-class Jamaican parents, before entering the hallowed halls of Cambridge University to study history. Ever since the day she first walked through the House of Commons as the first Black woman MP, she has been a fearless and vocal champion for the causes that have made Britain what it is today, whether it’s increasing access to education for Black children and speaking out against the Iraq war or advocating tirelessly for refugees and immigrants.
A unique figure in British public life, Diane has often had nothing but the courage of her convictions to carry her through incredibly hostile environments, from torrential abuse in the mainstream media and on social media, to being shunned by the political establishment, including by her own party. Written with frankness and wry humour, A Woman Like Me is an inspirational account that celebrates how one woman succeeded against massive odds and built an extraordinary legacy.
Malorie Blackman (Author)
In Boys Don't Cry, bestselling author Malorie Blackman explores the unchartered territory of teenage fatherhood.
You're waiting for the postman - he's bringing your A level results. University, a career as a journalist - a glittering future lies ahead. But when the doorbell rings it's your old girlfriend; and she's carrying a baby. Your baby.
You're happy to look after it, just for an hour or two. But then she doesn't come back - and your future suddenly looks very different.
Malorie's dramatic new novel will take you on a journey from tears to laughter and back again.
