Overview

‘A Vital corrective that enhances our understanding of Black British history’
– Steve McQueen

From the late 1970’s to the early 1990’s Britain was in tumult.  Rocked
by Margaret Thatcher’s radical economic policy, the rise of the National
Front, widespread civil unrest and anti immigration policies,  it was
also a time of Black cultural creation.  In his much heralded first book
Guardian journalist Lanre Bakare brings into the spotlight extraordinary
and often overlooked Black lives in   cities across the UK including
feminists and Rastafarians , academics and pan-Africanists,
environmental campaigners and rugby-league superstars.  From the docks
of Liverpool and Cardiff to the mills of Bradford and the dancefloors
that hosted Northern soul all-nighters, this is a profoundly important
portrait of modern Britain.

Lanre will be in conversation with Guyanese-born British journalist and
broadcaster Juliet Alexander who is a Trustee of the Huntley Archive
which celebrates the pioneering work of Eric and Jessica Huntley who
founded one of Britain’s first Black bookshops and later publishing
houses in West Ealing 50 years ago.

About Lanre Bakare

Lanre Bakare was born and grew up in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He is a
correspondent for the Guardian where his writing focuses on the
intersection of art, race and culture. He has lived and worked in New
York and Los Angeles as part of the Pulitzer Prize winning Guardian US
team, and in 2020 he co-wrote a book with Ovie Soko, titled You Are
Dope. He is a regular contributor to radio and TV shows, including BBC
Front Row, and he has also taught workshops as part of the Critics of
Colour collective and hosted panels for Guardian Live and Soho House. We
Were There is his first book.

About Juliet Alexander

Juliet Alexander is a Guyanese-born British educator, journalist and
television presenter, who for more than four decades has worked in print
and broadcast media, as well as in a range of educational and community
organisations. She is notable as a pioneering broadcaster who presented
the UK’s first Black news and current affairs magazine television
programme, Ebony, launched in 1982.

About Ealing Book Festival

The aim of Ealing Book Festival is to celebrate the joy of reading and to advance engagement and education around literature and reading. Through our events we hope to bring people and communities together; grow audiences for literature; inspire writers and readers of all ages; showcase well-known authors and promote local writers.

 www.ealingbookfestival.com.