🔗 Share this article

On Sunday morning, the venue’s expansive modern foyer will replace its usual quiet for a energy of conversation and excitement, and a distinct kind of creative atmosphere: Black British narrative arts in all its multiplicity.

Now in its fifth year, the Black British book festival (BBBF) has become Europe’s most significant gathering of Black writing. What began as a small, intimate gathering has expanded into a national institution drawing thousands of attendees and prominent personalities in the book industry.

Launched by the children’s author in that year, the festival grew out of the author’s annoyance at being told that her work wouldn’t be marketable because there was a Black girl on the cover. Determined to create a platform she couldn’t find elsewhere, Brown started the debut gathering as a daylong celebration. After five years, it has expanded into a ongoing cultural platform, staging three major festivals across the UK, opening libraries, partnering with the famous festival, and launching a children’s book festival led by Sir Lenny Henry.

“UK Black authors’ works has consistently been rich, but frequently it has lacked the opportunity or funding it deserves,” states Brown. “The festival functions to transform that reality.”

The schedule for this year’s key gathering at the Barbican features Jordan Stephens and June Sarpong. The diverse agenda includes everything from policy dialogues to children’s storytelling, as well as expert conversations with prominent Black writers and sessions for aspiring writers. There are presentations on Malcolm X, workshops on becoming an author, and areas where creators and audiences can meet one another.

“It’s an absolute appreciation of Black thinking,” says one speaker, an activist and initiator of a inclusivity hub, who will be at the festival to talk about his recent publication about compensation. “We rarely honor the happiness of Black creativity adequately.”

Regularly we’re responding to other people’s agendas. At this festival the agenda is established by Black people

“The UK Black identity is special in that you’re constantly battling a perceived idea of what national character is and how we integrate,” adds a festival participant, recognized as being one half of a group, who is also hosting an event at the festival. “So when you’re with people who have all been in that struggle, you’re like, ‘Oh, this is genuinely uplifting. It’s a vibe.’ It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy, an odd loop.”

While the festival has thrived, the same doesn’t apply of the publishing landscape surrounding it. The surge after 2020 triggered by the social justice activism now looks like a surge rather than a change.

The UK saw a notable growth in the sales of works by diverse authors in the financial year to 2021. Titles such as a well-known factual work rose to the top of the UK bestseller list, making its writer the first Black British author to achieve that status. Book publishers hurried to emulate the approach.

However the drive was short-lived. Recently, prominent Black writers claimed that UK the book industry is now harder to break into for Black authors than it was in the past. Research showed that the growth period “failed to result in the promised broadening of industry production”. And just last week, a literacy charity highlighted a “sharp drop” in the number of kids’ literature including Black leads, reduced by more than a fifth between last year and this year.

“It can be demoralizing to examine the ups and downs of a system that doesn’t always prioritize principle and genuineness,” the speaker says. “It’s about popularity.”

For another voice, the problem is clear. “The business framework is broken,” he says. “Everybody points to a famous work, but the fact is that when it was published, it just fell off and died, until the death of George Floyd and the movement. We obviously have a system that hinders what is now acknowledged as brilliant, Black literature.”

“Several paradoxical trends are happening at the once,” he adds. “The festival is expanding quickly. And at the same time, lots of Black literature is declining. What that tells me is that there is a pressing demand and a massive desire for togetherness among people who appreciate Black literature. And what we must do is build on that network.”

He is not referring to the standard of the content, but the structure of an sector that still treats it as marginal. “If we accept that writing is a fundamental part of our democracy – which it is, because it’s disseminating perspectives and disseminating it across the community – then we need to think about whether there needs to be public investment in it for marginalized communities,” he says. “Writing is so important to the nation, and counting on just the profit motive to support its growth is not the solution.”

For the speaker, this is what establishes the BBBF important: it operates independently of that system, and avoids relying on publishing houses to determine that Black writing is marketable. “Too frequently we are responding to other people’s interests,” he says. “Whereas what’s fantastic about this festival is that it is the focus being established by Black people. It is the narratives being shaped by Black people. And you so seldom get platforms and moments to experience that.”

In a period of rising cultural conflict and ideological rift in the UK, the festival has an even sharper resonance. Recently witnessed racial unrest and far-right marches occur in locations across England. A political party has risen in the surveys and national flags have been shown across pavements. A emerging trend – against inclusion, xenophobic, “traditionalist” – is being forcefully declared in the mainstream.

Look at the Harlem Renaissance: those authors weren’t