Celebration!

In a week that saw the 21st anniversary of Courttia Newland’s The Scholar and the nomination of Daniel Kaluuya for Best Actor at the Oscar’s, we have every reason to be excited about Black British storytelling. Reflecting on these accomplishments this week made me think about the importance of representation, both in the identity of the storytellers as well as the content of the storytelling. Many have remarked about the lack of coverage of Daniel’s momentous achievement in the mainstream British media. It brought home to me the importance of us celebrating each other. Courttia Newland was already on the publication schedule for this week, but when I realised that it was the 21st anniversary of his debut novel, I knew that I had to ensure that we took the time to really consider Courttia’s impact on the British literary scene. You must check out our introduction to Courttia Newland’s work here. And be sure to send him a ‘Happy Anniversary’ tweet @CourttiaNewland. Tell him we sent you.

Esther Kuforiji, Editor 
@EstherKuforiji