Books
The Reading Quilt: Letter to My Daughter
In her book Letter to My Daughter (Random House, 2008), Angelou details her life as a young mother to a daughter she never had.
Great Expectations: why it’s not historically inaccurate for a Dickens character to be Black
The idea that there were no Black people in Britain in Dickensian times is prevalent, but wrong.
The complex relationship between Black gamers and Hogwarts Legacy
The love of this world – and the nostalgia it evokes – seems to supersede the problematic views of the creator.
My favourite fictional character: Queenie, a young Black woman living and dating in London, is ‘complex, funny, broken, fun’
Popularly billed as “Bridget Jones meets Americanah”, Queenie is the story of a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, working at a national newspaper, and navigating life after a messy breakup with long-term boyfriend Tom.
Noni Jabavu was a pioneering South African writer – a new book shows how relevant she still is
Noni Jabavu was the first Black South African woman to publish memoirs and one of the first African women to pursue a literary career abroad.
Three essential tales of Black vampirism
There is a long tradition of Black vampires that goes back centuries. These stories subvert the vampire mythos traditionally dominated by white men of high social status.
Disney’s Black mermaid is no breakthrough – just look at the literary subgenre of Black mermaid fiction
The fact that Disney’s portrayal of a nonwhite mermaid is controversial is due to 150 years of whitewashing.
The Reading Quilt: Look Up, Below
A total eclipse will darken the North American sky, passing over the United States on April 8, 2024.
Jean Toomer’s Cane at 100: the ‘everlasting song’ that defined the Harlem Renaissance
The novel interweaves the stories of multiple characters’ lives in southern and northern communities during the post-slavery “Jim Crow” era.