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I’m so happy to be taking part in the listening party and blog tour for Jeffrey Boakye’s new book, Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs. Musical Truth is a history book that takes the form of a playlist charting key moments in modern British history. It feels like an informative, and rather…
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At the start of 2021, the UK entered yet another national lockdown. In July, I wrote a post about the books and online platforms that helped me get through the first national lockdown. I wanted to share some more online platforms that I’ve enjoyed using lately and also discuss some new and upcoming books that I’m excited about.…
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Who They Was is an autobiographical novel that follows a young man named Gabriel, or Snoopz to his friends, as he enters the brutal world of gang life and crime. Gabriel is of Polish descent and grew up in South Kilburn. For him and the young men around him, drugs, guns, violence, stabbings and robberies are…
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When the UK’s national lockdown was first announced, I felt frustrated and annoyed even though I understood why it needed to happen. At the time, I was looking for my next role and then my job search came to a sudden halt. I wondered (read: panicked) about how the pandemic would affect my finances. My mind…
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I never expected to read a book about motherhood in 2020. When Candice Brathwaite’s debut book I Am Not Your Baby Mother was published, I knew I needed it to read it. This Sunday Times Bestseller is an honest and insightful discussion about life as a black mother today. Brathwaite is a ‘Mummy’ influencer and the founder…
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Minna Salami is a Nigerian, Finnish and Swedish writer, lecturer and the founder of the award-winning blog MsAfropolitan. Her debut essay collection, Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone, challenges the Eurocentric, patriarchal ways of thinking that have had a chokehold on our world for centuries. In the book, Salami “draws on Africa-centric, feminist-first and artistic traditions to…
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From a Jehovah’s Witness in the Black Country to a sex worker in London, Paul Mendez’s semi-autobiographical novel Rainbow Milk is unlike the coming-of-age stories you’ve previously read. Nineteen-year-old Jesse McCarthy is a well-respected Jehovah’s Witness in the West Midlands coming to terms with his sexuality. When he is disfellowshipped and shunned by the congregation and his…
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A year ago, I was complaining to someone that there weren’t enough books by and about Trinidadian people (and West Indian people more broadly) in British bookshops. A few months later, I received a copy of Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud and it was exactly the kind of book I’d been craving. Love After Love tells the…
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Take It Back by Kia Abdullah is a legal thriller that tells the story of a white disabled teenager who accuses four Muslim boys of raping her. Who is telling the truth? All Zara Kaleel wants to do is help the victims that need her the most. It’s why the 30-year-old gave up her flourishing career…
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I’ve always sensed that Britain is racist. Educating myself about this country’s violent colonial past and involvement in the transatlantic slave trade has disturbed and angered me immensely. It is often said that racism is part of the fabric of British society. How do we fix this? Is revolution still possible for us? Yes, it…
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Tenelle Ottley-Matthew 