Multicultural Week 2022: Recommendations from Alleyn's Fenner Library

To celebrate the inaugural Alleyn’s Multicultural Week, Library staff chose a selection of fiction and non-fiction books from our collection written by British authors from multi-cultural backgrounds. Most of the authors we chose had parents or grandparents born in a different country. Some of these books address the conflicts between growing up British with parents from a different culture (Growing Yams in London – Sophia Acheampong, Hana Khan Carries On – Uzma Jalaluddin) and others draw on the author’s cultural heritage and are set outside the UK (The First Woman – Jennifer Mukumbi (Uganda), The Mermaid of Black Conch – Monique Roffey (Trinidad)). The non-fiction titles such as The Good Immigrant – ed. Nikesh Shukla, East Side Voices – ed. Helena Lee, and Afropean – Johnny Pitts, highlight previously unheard or under represented viewpoints discussing identity and ethnicity in Britain and Europe today. The books reflect our diverse society and would appeal to both pupils and staff.