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 Dr Margaret Andrews, a Patron of the Friends 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 Dr Margaret Andrews

Dr Margaret Andrews is a Patron of the Friends of the Huntley Archive and author of ‘Doing Nothing is Not an Option: The Radical Lives of Eric and Jessica Huntley’. She has also written ‘Becoming Fowokan: The Life and Works of Fowokan George Kelly’ and has contributed to the 2025 ‘Routledge Companion to African Diaspora Art History’.

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.