*UPDATED*2024 Festival Book Club

Saturday 26 October, 11am-12noon at Holborn Library
*POSTPONED* Sunday 3 November, 2pm-3pm at St Pancras Library

FREE – Just turn up

Reading The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

Tamera here, Creative Consultant for Bloomsbury Festival and Founder of Cold Islanders, a community-focused innovative celebrating Caribbean culture and creativity. I’m delighted to share that Bloomsbury Festival and Cold Islanders will be hosting two book clubs discussing Monique Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch.

It’s a book that captured my heart the first time I read it and for my fellow fans of magical realism, I can confidently say that you will love this story. Often heart-breaking and yet also soul-restoring, this is a captivating tale of friendship, love and transformation.

In the Grip of Change: the Caribbean and its British Diaspora
For lovers of Caribbean literature, I would also suggest popping along to Senate House Library’s stall at the festival’s Discovery Day at Holborn Library on Saturday 26 October (which will be sat next to our book club). The team will be giving a taster of what to expect at their latest exhibition at Senate House Library, titled In the Grip of Change: the Caribbean and its British Diaspora opening on 29 October. This exhibition traces British Caribbean colonies’ paths to independence, highlighting the work of transnational activists. It also explores the Caribbean diaspora in Britain and how successive changes to immigration and nationality laws have culminated in the ‘Windrush’ scandal.

All book club sessions and the exhibition are FREE, no booking required, just turn up!

“The Mermaid of Black Conch is a new Caribbean myth that feels as ancient as the very beginning of oral storytelling. Its modernity comes from the way it weaves in fresh ideas on gender, sexuality, ecology, history, migration, transformation and transfiguration. The monumental task of finding that liminal space between the ancient and the modern is done so seamlessly that Monqiue Roffey will have you think that always knew this story somehow, deep down in the marrow of your bones.” Roger Robinson

Recommended Reads by Caribbean authors
When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo
Love after Love by Ingrid Persaud
Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein
People Person by Candice Carty-Williams

Exhibition Curator pick
Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History by C.L.R James
This is the impassioned and beautifully drawn story of the Haitian Revolution and its incredible leader: Toussaint Louverture. The text of this graphic novel is a play by C. L. R. James that opened in London in 1936 with Paul Robeson in the title role.

Happy reading!

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