March 11th

BUSINESS • Aaron Wallace - The grooming brand for men was founded by South London barber Aaron Wallace and Lina Gadi in 2017 and launched to the public in 2019. The company sells hair and beard care products made of natural ingredients and is stocked by ASOS, Liberty London, Saks Fifth Avenue and Zalando. https://byaaronwallace.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiA1JGRBhBSEiwAxXblwdHgPrBqupXIL90BrAUWsqpgkF0_ff2dWtXSfbDtrMdHcJSNo5LloRoCchAQAvD_BwE&v=79cba1185463 • Afori Books Online and physical Bookstore- Afrori Books is an online bookshop that specialises in black authors. Just one year after launching online, Carolynn Bain is now making plans to open a physical shop in Brighton on October 20. The company launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £10,000 to transform the downstairs space at Lighthouse charity’s building in Kensington Street. On opening the business last year, Ms Bain said the store’s email and social media account was hit with a flurry of racial abuse. https://afroribooks.co.uk/ • Soul Food Vendor - Richard Dyer opened his new Caribbean restaurant business in Plymouth in June - but has ambitious plans for branches around the UK. The licensed diner serves up dishes including jerk chicken, curry goat, handmade steak burgers and vegan and vegetarian dishes. Mr Dyer, who has created 10 jobs at his new eatery, is already eyeing expanding the brand wider. “I want to open more of these up and down the country,” the 35-year-old said. ”I’d like to open in Cornwall, particularly on the beaches, and Exeter, Bristol and London. Hopefully this will be the first of many. “I want to put Jamaican and Caribbean cuisine on the map, a place where everyone can have a taste of paradise.” https://www.soulfoodvendor.co.uk/ • Waldron & Co Financial Planning - Nathan Waldron is a former banker who launched his wealth management company after being made redundant. The 36-year-old Staffordshire-based entrepreneur has clocked up more than 15 years in the finance industry, firstly working as a banker at Barclays and then as an adviser at financial planning company Prudential. His company launched in 2021 and offers a full range of financial advice for clients across the UK. He said: "I had considered setting up on my own in the past but I thought I was a bit too early in my career, but it has always been something I’ve wanted to do. "Being made redundant obviously forced me to take the leap, but I think it’s a wonderful opportunity and I believe I can definitely do it." https://www.mandg.com/wealth/advice/get-financial-advice/adviser-sites/waldron-and-co-financial-planning •Kazvare Made - London-based “illustration lab” Kazvare have worked with brands like Adidas, Tate Modern, and O2 on large-scale events, but they also sell their pop-culture–influenced prints, homewares and books online. You may have seen their products sold in stores like Oliver Bonas and Scribbler, like this print of Stormzy and Beyoncé eating at Morley’s or an illustrated guide to taking the tube. https://kazvaremadeit.com/ EVENTS • Mary Seacole 15 Apr 2022 - 4 Jun 2022 Donmar Warehouse - “Scene One: Mary Seacole stands before us. If you don’t know who she is, well, look her the f* k up"*. Mary Seacole was the pioneering Jamaican nurse who bravely voyaged to heal soldiers in the Crimean War. She was a traveller, a hotelier and a businesswoman. She was the most impressive woman you’ve ever met. Putting the concept of a biopic through a kaleidoscope, Marys Seacole is a dazzling exploration, across oceans and eras, of what it means to be a woman who is paid to care, and how, ultimately, no one is in charge of their own story. Directed by Nadia Latif, the UK premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Jackie Sibblies Drury’s celebrated new play reunites the team behind her critically-acclaimed Fairview in 2019. https://booking.donmarwarehouse.com/events/1801APGQPRKNVLCHGSKJBCTJKDRMGPLNL?_ga=2.172448547.145443149.1646562858-62253566.1646562858 • We are Lewisham: 05 Fest Thursday (10 March - Saturday 19, The Albany) - Award-winning poet, playwright and performer Inua Ellams brings his own brand of poetry and spoken word to Lewisham. Inua Ellams (Barbershop Chronicles, The Half-God of Rainfall) brings his inaugural 05Fest to the Albany as part of We Are Lewisham. Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is a poet, playwright & performer, graphic artist & designer. He is a Complete Works poet alumni and facilitates workshops in creative writing where he explores reoccurring themes in his work – Identity, Displacement and Destiny – in accessible, enjoyable ways for participants of all ages and backgrounds. https://www.wearelewisham.com/event/05fest/ He's Dead (Battersea Arts Centre, 16 Mar - 2 Apr) - A dark fantasy, conceptual choreography exploring the question: “Was Tupac depressed?” Using dance, text and striking visuals, marikiscrycrycry’s He’s Dead delves into the unspoken surrounding mental health in the Black community. Underscored by a brooding hip-hop soundscape, He’s Dead is a complex and powerful endeavour to “shed tears for the things that we cannot unearth” in an attempt to find clarity in what can never truly be answered. Made in three acts, this compelling work looks at the violence of dehumanisation – highlighting the injustice that if a figure is flawed in any way by their actions, their sadness cannot be heard or acknowledged; heightened endlessly if you are Black. https://bac.org.uk/whats-on/hes-dead/ • Sharing Dreams and Struggles Within our Black African Caribbean Community - This week welcome Milton along to discuss his journey and the history in Huddersfield regarding the Black African Caribbean Community. For forty years, Milton has incessantly dedicated his working life to academic study and challenging all forms of inequality. Since the early 1990s, his work has been undertaken nationally, internationally, and performed within grassroots communities, public, private, and voluntary sectors as a Diversity, Inclusion leadership, and Organisational Consultant. n 2011, Milton fulfilled a four-week United Nations Fellowship for People of African Descent. Currently, he is in the final year of my PhD in History and Philosophy. Milton studies accentuate autoethnographic research of how African Caribbean British descendants have navigated race and constructed their identities in Britain from the 1960s to the present. Milton is an international educator; his passion for equality, inclusion, community cohesion, committed humanitarian inspires his audiences to feel confident to challenge all forms of inequality and to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion without anxiety. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sharing-dreams-and-struggles-within-our-black-african-caribbean-community-tickets-269583981947?aff=erelexpmlt •Black History River Cruise 19th March Your private, double-decker boat will start from the Temple Pier near Temple tube station on the Embankment. Your six-mile round trip includes unobstructed and spectacular views of both sides of the Thames riverbanks. With special historical guests Phyliss Wheatley, General Dumas, Queen-General Yaa Asantewa, Warrior Queen Amanirenas and Olaudah Equiano, not only will you get a unique informed historical commentary as we cruise, but you will hear inspiring true stories from legendary Black resistance leaders. The cruise will cover African Romans, ancient African art/engineering, Black Spitfire pilots, lost sugar warehouses, the Ivory trade, African diamonds, African Odysseys on the Southbank, the Apartheid Millenium Wheel, Nigerian oil, 20,000 Black people and their Day of Action, Civil Rights in the UK, Mary Seacole, To Sir With Love, Brown babies and Jim Crow, The Palace of Stolen Goods, West India Docks, Canary Wharf's African roots, Kings College's Caribbean connection, Guys Hospital and who really paid for it, the colour bar in nursing, Black Merchant Mariners, the river as a sewer, Black Shakespeare, Tate & Lyle and the Sugar Girls, Barbados and the National Rail Network, the REAL pirates of the Caribbean and much, much more! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-history-river-cruise-19th-march-tickets-197853734847 https://youtu.be/JCIMcpxJSyw Royal Albert Hall presents Late Night Jazz - Raelle (9th March)- South London soul singer Raelle will perform tracks from her acclaimed debut EP and her upcoming album in the Elgar Room. Raelle is part of a new refreshing wave of neo-soul artists from London. She started her musical journey in South London and has formed a sound characterised by its rich vocal harmonies and 70s soul feel. She finds singing, particularly soul, a natural way of sharing with others, enabling a deeper emotional bonding between people, and creating a bridge to share experiences, in the musical spirit of Roy Ayers, Etta James, and Nina Simone. https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2022/late-night-jazz-raelle/ BOOKS • All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake (Tiya Miles) -NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A renowned historian traces the life of a single object handed down through three generations of Black women to craft an extraordinary testament to people who are left out of the archives. “Deeply layered and insightful . . . [a] bold reflection on American history, African American resilience, and the human capacity for love and perseverance in the face of soul-crushing madness.”—The Washington Post. “A history told with brilliance and tenderness and fearlessness.”—Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United States https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-That-She-Carried-Keepsake-ebook/dp/B08F4HMB2V/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3Q1TMTAJMX5AS&keywords=All+that+she+carried&qid=1646503497&sprefix=all+that+she+carried%2Caps%2C71&sr=8-1

• The Last Suspicious Holdout by Ladee Hubbard (March 8, 2022) - Critically acclaimed Rib King author Ladee Hubbard returns with The Last Suspicious Holdout, a riveting collection of stories about Black people navigating a post-racial period in what the book calls a “sliver of southern suburbia.” https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Last-Suspicious-Holdout-Stories/dp/B09BBJX6WV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ILXE64WNMCNA&keywords=the+last+suspicious+holdout&qid=1646503948&s=books&sprefix=the+last+sus%2Cstripbooks%2C90&sr=1-1 • Things Past Telling: A Novel (Sheila Williams) 15 March release - The author of The Secret Woman tells the story of a brave and enduring woman as indomitable as Ernest Gaines’ legendary Miss Jane Pittman, in a breathtaking novel that combines the epic romance and adventure of Outlander, the sweeping drama of Roots, and the haunting historical power of Barracoon. Things Past Telling is a remarkable historical epic that charts one unforgettable woman’s journey across an ocean of years as vast as the Atlantic that will forever separate her from her homeland. Born in West Africa in the mid-18th century, Maryam Prescilla Grace - a.k.a “Momma Grace” - will live a long, wondrous life marked by hardship, oppression, opportunity, and love. Though she will be “gifted” various names, her birth name is known to her alone. Over the course of 100-plus years, she survives capture, enslavement by several property owners, the Atlantic crossing when she is only 11 years of age, and a brief stint as a pirate’s ward, acting as both a spy and a translator. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Things-Past-Telling-Sheila-Williams-ebook/dp/B09794T2VQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1646588081&sr=8-1 • The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer (Janelle Monae) April, 14 - In The Memory Librarian, music, fashion, film and activist icon Janelle Monáe returns to the Afrofuturistic world of her critically acclaimed album, Dirty Computer, to explore how different threads of liberation - queerness, race, gender plurality, love - become tangled in a totalitarian landscape...and to discover costs of unravelling them. Whoever controls our memories controls the future. Janelle Monáe and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Monáe such a compelling and celebrated storyteller. Dirty Computer introduced a world in which thoughts - as a means of self-conception - could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, AI or other, your life and sentience was dictated by those who’d convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Memory-Librarian-Other-Stories-Computer/dp/B09BFXCNDJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=301ZWOCJQTEE2&keywords=the+memory+librarian&qid=1646504215&s=audible&sprefix=the+memory+librarian%2Caudible%2C68&sr=1-1 • Superheroes : Inspiring Stories of Secret Strength by Sophia Thakur - What do you want to be when you grow up? Discover the new daring tales of inspiration from over fifty iconic British icons today, who have each harnessed their childish curiosity and ambition and turned it into their own superhero power. With a special introduction by Stormzy. Explore the lives of inspirational figures - from dancer Princess K, who went from tapping her foot under the desk at school, to captivating the world centre stage at Glastonbury. PODCASTS • Brunch and Bantu Knots Podcast - Grab a cocktail and join two women in a brunch style podcast exploring the fun, crazy and tough topics surrounding the black community and culture. New episodes every Sunday! Keep the conversation live by using the hashtag #BrunchAndBantuPod and following @brunchandbantu on Instagram/Twitter. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/brunch-bantu-knots-podcast/id1523079880 •Over the Bridge - Hey, meet Bilal, Kwaku, Patrick and Tom. 4 Black and Mixed-Race guys who became friends whilst studying at Cambridge University. Join us as we talk about life before, during and well - after 'The Bridge'. Expect chats about life, and our own experiences. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/over-the-bridge-podcast/id1364395842 RADIO • If You Don't Know - De-Graft and Roshan are both back this week. Today we think it's important to focus on what's happening in Ukraine. We speak to two Nigerian students, Mary and AJ, who had moved there to study. They talk us through what life’s like now that Russia has invaded the country. Mary is still stuck there, scared and missing her family, while AJ has managed to leave and get to a safer place. This one is a tough listen but needed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bs9rlv FILM/TV •Hell on the Border (Netflix) - ‘In the late 1800s, legendary black marshal Bass Reeves sets out on the trail of notorious outlaw Bob Dozier. https://www.netflix.com/title/81208146 • The Man Who Fell to Earth (UK release date to be confirmed) - T he Man Who Fell To Earth, Ejiofor plays Faraday, an alien who attempts to understand his purpose after landing on Earth. Naomie Harris is Justin Falls, the human he comes into contact with. There’s a wider cast with some familiar names too; Sonya Cassidy, Rob Delaney (Catastrophe), Josh Herdman, Annelle Olayele, Clarke Peters, Jimmi Simpson (Westworld) and Star Trek Voyager‘s Kate Mulgrew will also appear. The Man Who Fell to Earth is a 10-part sci-fi drama that will premiere on April 24 on Showtime in the US. The UK channel or release date is yet to be confirmed but keep an eye on this page as we think the announcement is imminent. https://cultbox.co.uk/general/chiwetel-ejiofor-is-the-man-who-fell-to-earth-showtime-drops-a-trailer • ‘ The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey’ 11 March Apple TV+ - As dementia invades Ptolemy Grey’s consciousness, the early stages of this series are a heartbreaking depiction of this cruel illness. His only lifeline is his patient carer Reggie – but when Reggie is killed, Ptolemy is left in the hands of orphaned teenager Robyn. What happened to Reggie? Using treatment that restores his memories to an almost absurd pin-sharpness, Ptolemy is able to scroll back through the events leading to Reggie’s death with unnerving certainty. Based on Walter Mosley’s novel, this drama is part detective story, part muse on memory and what it really means. Samuel L Jackson brings its frail but defiant hero to life with sensitivity. Apple TV+, from Friday 11 March https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/series/our-kind-of-people/2VIoVh6x8AqD • Alice (in US theatres March 18) - Alice tells the story of a young slave woman (Keke Palmer) who escapes from her plantation, only to find that it’s not the 1800s anymore (it’s the 1970s — 1973 to be exact) and she’s been legally free the whole time. The revelation is understandably devastating and reality shattering. When Alice sees a delivery truck for the first time she faints, and simple things like listening to a car radio or seeing images from a television broadcast startle and surprise her. A morose former activist named Frank (Common) is her only guide to this new strange world she finds herself in, her arrival giving his stagnant life purpose for the first time in years. Protective of Alice, Frank gives her a crash course on the Civil Rights movement of the ‘60s and the burgeoning Black Power movement of the ‘70s. In awe, Alice finds herself and proceeds to concoct a dangerous rescue mission to liberate all the slaves she left behind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YlQa7j0BTU • Mood (BBC 3, iplayer available now) - The seductive world of influencers hides dark secrets. With nowhere to turn, can aspiring musician Sasha break free? Bold drama with a killer original soundtrack from Nicôle Lecky. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bn2cgw WHAT AM I PAYING ATTENTION TO? • BADA’s four-week Black British Theatre course - BADA’s four-week Black British Theatre course provides an overview of contemporary Black British theatre and performance. Play texts by major Black British Writers such as Roy Williams, Winsome Pinnock and debbie tucker green, will be analysed from social and cultural contexts framed by theories of identity, representation, nationalism, race, gender, sexuality and class. There will be twice-weekly theatre trips to watch performances at venues such as The National Theatre, Bush Theatre, Arcola Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre. There will also be visits to places of relevance to broaden the contexts of the course, such as The Black Cultural Archives, Talawa Theatre Company, The V&A Museum, and a theatre-focused tour of London by Black History Walks. The work of the course is evenly divided between academic work in the classroom and practical work/masterclasses in the studio. It appeals to a wide range of applicants from the undergraduate to the graduate level and to professionals at any stage in their career.. http://www.bada.org.uk/black-british-theatre/ • #Merky Books – the publishing imprint launched by Stormzy and Penguin Random House UK – has joined up with HSBC to create a live-streamed school event series on financial wellbeing and entrepreneurialism. . - HSBC UK and #Merky Books have joined forces to create a new in-person and live-streamed school event series on financial wellbeing and entrepreneurialism. The How To series will include events in three secondary schools around the UK with financial wellness guru Bola Sol, author of How To Save It, and creative strategists Niran Vinod and Damola Timeyin, authors of How To Build It. The first event will be held on 21st February at La Sainte Union School in London, with Sol talking to the students about how to budget, save and invest, how to build financial confidence and on overcoming personal challenges when it comes to money. The second and third talks will take place in Birmingham and Leeds in March, with each event being live streamed for additional schools to tune in (the Bookseller website). https://www.thebookseller.com/childrens/childrens/merky-and-hsbc-partner-for-new-school-event-series WHAT I AM PERSONALLY RECOMMENDING? 1. Wake Up Sunshine - EP (Raelle) - British born Neo Soul artist Raelle beautiful new EP showcases her haunting vocal style. It was released in September 2021. https://glidemagazine.com/262820/london-neo-soul-songstress-raelle-exhibits-vocal-prowess-on-up-sunshine/ 2. The British Blacklist - Keep up to date about happenings in the Black British entertainment world https://www.instagram.com/thebritishblacklist/?hl=en https://thebritishblacklist.co.uk/ 3. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo winner of the Booker Prize 2019 - From Newcastle to Cornwall, from the birth of the twentieth century to the teens of the twenty-first, Girl, Woman, Other follows a cast of twelve characters on their personal journeys through this country and the last hundred years. They're each looking for something - a shared past, an unexpected future, a place to call home, somewhere to fit in, a lover, a missed mother, a lost father, even just a touch of hope . A compulsive read about the Black British Female experience from multiple perspectives. It was a page turner for me through lockdown.