From the archive: colleagues give their Black History Month recommendations

Ranging from iconic series that you might have read at school to ground-breaking contemporary writing, Colour[full] share the books that have made an impact on them. Straight from the Penguin Random House archives, as well as some more recent publications, these recommendations barely scratch the surface when it comes to brilliant Black writing, but they’re a great place to start.
 

Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation by Colin Grant

The striking photograph on the cover of Homecoming made me pick up this fascinating book which tells stories of the Windrush generation – a key part of British history which is merely glossed over in the school curriculum. It’s a literary tapestry of over one hundred first-hand interviews, archive materials and memoirs documenting Britain during the period between the late 1940s and early 1960s. I’d recommend it to anyone who, like me, wants to fill in the gaps in their knowledge about Black British history.

Naomi Morris Omori, VINTAGE Brand Executive

Look Up! by Nathan Bryon

This is a perfect picture book about a little girl who wants everyone to look down from their screens and look up at the world around her. Rocket is one of the most lovable, memorable picture book characters I’ve ever encountered and she’s set to inspire a generation of readers to discover their passion for science and space!

Joe Marriott, Commissioning Editor

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde

This is a genre-defying memoir. It is a deconstruction of the self, a journey into vulnerability. It is electric in its poetry, as the reader finds themselves lost in the beauty of Audre Lorde’s verse, her poetic mythology. Her search for identity, her peaks and pitfalls, makes this a must-read for any black woman, but particularly for queer black women.

Léa Malinur, Education Assistant Intern

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Girl, Woman, Other is an intersectional, intergenerational chronicle of Black Britain, and specifically of the Black women who call this country home. The novel follows the threads of twelve very different characters – along the way we meet friends, lovers, rivals, idols, the ones who triumph and the ones left behind. Joyful and sharp, personal and political, wise and full of hope – this is the celebration of Black Britain our country desperately needs.

Hannah Chukwu, Editorial Assistant

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a completely unique take on the slave narrative which owes as much to Charlotte Brontë as it does Toni Morrison. I have never read a book like this, I got lost in the world she created through her beautiful storytelling. If you are into the gothic novels, you will be after this. But even if you don’t like gothic fiction, read this beautiful book.

Gift Ajimokun, Early Careers Coordinator

Don't Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri

As a Black woman of Caribbean descent, I have struggled to connect my experience to the African diaspora and the history I have lost due to colonisation. Dabiri educated me on how deeply connected hair is to ‘Blackness’, our culture and spiritual beliefs before, during and after colonisation and how Black hair has always been judged against a Eurocentric idea of beauty and value. Dabiri elaborates on her experience as a Black mixed race woman and delves into the often forgotten experience of what mixed Black slaves endured as well as illuminating the origins of many damaging stereotypes.

This book really shows how much we have to re-educate ourselves to learn about who we really are.

Sharifah Grant, Creative Responsibility Assistant

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

As soon as I read it in January, I knew there wouldn’t be another book that I would read this year that could outdo it. Incredibly beautifully written, the details are harrowing, vivid and breathtaking in this multi-generational tale of two sisters, one enslaved, another married to a slave trader. Gyasi has a wonderful way of intertwining non-fictional events and making them echo down several eras. I recommend it to everyone and anyone as much as I can.

Folayemi Adebayo, Marketing Executive

Surge by Jay Bernard

This collection from award-winning poet Jay Bernard – written when they were resident at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton unearthing records from the New Cross Fire of 1981 – draws tighter the gap between past and present, drawing continuous lines of grief inherited and repeated across generations. The flames of New Cross and Grenfell tangle around each other, illuminating the inevitability of state violence against the vulnerable. This is a collection densely peopled, by mothers and fathers rendered unrecognisable by grief, by bodies thrown from windows, by throngs marching for action, and by the faceless indifference of authority. It carries within it a political and artistic legacy from poets like Linton Kwesi Johnson, woven in with a voice unmistakably from today’s South London. A beautiful and astonishing first collection.

Zainab Juma, Brand Campaign Manager

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

I read the Noughts and Crosses series when I was 13, and it’s the first time I remember reading a book about someone who looked like me. I found the series incredibly profound and moving, especially Checkmate, where the protagonist was of dual heritage, the same as me. I recommend these books to everyone and think they are perfect for any age range because the Noughts and Crosses series is still as timely and relevant today as they were when they were first published.

Ajebowale Roberts, Editorial Assistant