Throughout her work, Walker challenges the often romanticised imagery of the Old South. Disrupting the quotidian depiction of this historical period in America. Read More
Man Booker Prize 2015: Writers of Colour Dominate This Year’s Shortlist
Before the winner is announced on October 13, get acquainted with the Man Booker Prize’s most racially diverse shortlist with our round up Read More
Review: God Bless the Child by Toni Morrison
by Sabo Kpade Chief among the preoccupations of God Bless The Child is skin shade: a slight variation from the skin colour that is a main raw material in many of Toni Morrison’s previous works. The lens is still aimed on the same target but the focus has been narrowed. Bride is a young woman… Read More
Review: WORD by JJ Bola
by Samira Sawlani “Hype your writers like you do your rappers”, says JJ Bola. If ever there was a writer who deserved that hype, it’s Bola himself. This Kinshasa born, London raised poet, educator and speaker arrived in the UK at 7 with his family as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As… Read More
Review: Othello at the Royal Shakespeare Company
Review of Othello at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s starring Hugh Quarshie and Lucian Msamati Read More
Review: Educating Rita
by Sabo Kpade Lenny Henry’s rebirth as a stage and screen actor is as surprising as it is admirable. By taking on Othello and Troy Maxson in Fences, roles that have been played by powerhouse actors he hasn’t chosen the easy route. In these productions, he played against his strengths as a stand up comic.… Read More
Interview: Peter Kalu on Black and Asian Writers Walking Confidently Within a Changing World
We pick the brains of author Peter Kalu, who runs the annual Black and Asian Writer’s Conference, about the book industry, the need for more diversity in the arts, and the challenges facing writers of colour in the UK today. Read More
Exhibition review: The white washing of Marie Stopes’ eugenicist beliefs
By Dana Khalil Ahmad “Certainly there are very real differences between us of race, age, and sex. But it is not those differences between us that are separating us. It is rather our refusal to recognise those differences, and to examine the distortions which result from our misnaming them and their effects upon human behaviour and… Read More
Interview with Lucian Msamati, the first Black Iago at the Royal Shakespeare Company
by Sabo Kpade One thing that tends to never change in past iterations of Othello are the central roles: Othello, the Black or “blackened” flawed general, and Iago, the scheming and racist subordinate. These characters have always been left intact, for their different races and ranks contribute to the strongest charge around which the entire… Read More