Black, Listed: Jeffrey Boakye in conversation with JJ Bola

Join us as we welcome Jeffrey Boakye to read from BLACK, LISTED, his new book celebrating the words and phrases that by choice or by circumstance define the Black British experience. Following the reading, Jeffrey will be joined for a discussion by writer and poet JJ Bola.

Who is a roadman really? What's wrong with calling someone a 'lighty'? Why do people think black guys are cool?

These are just some of the questions being wrestled with in BLACK, LISTED, an exploration of 21st-century black identity told through a list of insults, insights, and everything in-between.

Taking a panoramic look at global black history, interrogating both contemporary and historical culture, BLACK, LISTED investigates the ways in which black communities (and individuals) have been represented, oppressed, mimicked, celebrated, and othered. Part historical study, part autobiographical musing, part pop culture vivisection, it's a comprehensive attempt to make sense of blackness from the vantage point of the hilarious and insightful psyche of Jeffrey Boakye. Along the way, it explores a far-reaching range of social and cultural contexts, including but not limited to, sport, art, entertainment, politics, literature, history, music, theatre, cinema, education, and criminal justice, sometimes at the same time.

Jeffrey Boakye is a writer, teacher, and music enthusiast originally from Brixton, now living and working in East London with his wife and two sons. He is the author of HOLD TIGHT: BLACK MASCULINITY, MILLENIALS AND THE MEANING OF GRIME (Influx Press, 2018).

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