May 6th

BUSINESS • Black-Owned Hackney - Black Owned Hackney launches for our Spring/Summer 2021 series in collaboration with Black Eats LDN! Catch them on the third weekend of May opposite Hackney Central station showcasing London’s best black-owned eats, artisan traders and many more black-owned businesses! Best vegan & non-vegan eats in town Sustainably-made clothing, gifts and skincare Our themed bars are open for takeaway FREE entry Pet and Family Friendly Black-Owned Hackney • Likkle Dutchpot- Likkle Dutchpot takes pride in providing catering services for your corporate and private events. We also offer a collection or delivery service on a pre-order basis for individuals and smaller groups. All of our customers are returning customers. We are everyone’s first choice - upholding our reputation for tasty and tropical, plant-based food in West and South West London. Likkle Dutchpot • Obsidi - Obsidi is the platform for Black tech professionals and allies. Are you ready to be seen AND connected? If you said YES, then you’re in the right place. Obsidi is the perfect space for you to smash your career goals and reach new heights. As a member, you’ll join an amazing global community of Black tech professionals, BPTN partners, and supportive allies who all want to see you succeed. Through our interactive platform, you’ll be able to expand your network, connect with endless career growth opportunities, find or become a mentor, and stay ‘in the know’ on everything tech-related through our complimentary year-round events. Obsidi • Kwanda - Non-profits raise money to help people. But, there is currently no good way for donors to see if the non-profit is using the money the way they said they would. Kwanda helps solve this problem by showing donors where their money goes, what impact it has and letting donors collectively decide how to spend the money. Kwanda is a new, transparent and democratic way to fund sustainable local solutions. How Kwanda works - Access to the village is granted via a monthly pledge, of which the minimum is £5. This contribution is used to fund investments, and grants you voting rights and an equal voice amongst villagers. Villagers can track project progress and get regular project updates live from the field. Kwanda •Binta's Kitchen - Binta's cuisine offers a range of delicious African cuisine. Binta's Kitchen Black Wall Street London - Have just opened a new store in Green Lanes Shopping Centre, Devon. Make sure to visit when in the area and also check out their new Cornucopia Emporium online. Black Wall Street EVENTS • Ballet Black (Stratford East) 11th May - 21st May - For their return to Stratford East, Ballet Black presents two new works. The first is a piece for the full company by acclaimed South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma (Vuyani Dance Theatre), featuring an original score by Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante (Boy Blue). The second ballet on the bill is directed by Ballet Black’s Founder and Artistic Director, Cassa Pancho, featuring choreography created by her and the Company. The piece explores the struggles and inspiration behind the formation of this award-winning company twenty years ago, through a series of vignettes. Ballet Black •Black British Book Festival - The Black British Book Festival is designed to celebrate and highlight black authors across all genres of literature. This event will feature several stalls held by budding writers and publishers from across the Midlands and beyond, with topics spanning a range of genres. We will welcome them to sell merchandise, personally sign their books and generally engage in networking to provide exposure for their work. The day will also feature Black Children's Book reading corner, creative activities and writing workshops. Black British Book Festival •Radiate Festival (Burgess Park 25-26 June) - 2 DAY LONDON FESTIVAL OF REAL VIBES MUSIC X ARTS X FOOD X CULTURE. The Vision of One Woman, Empowered by the Community Celebrating our Windrush history & the many Caribbean Generations who became Black-British afterwards A one of a kind event created from the GRASSROOTS for the free expression of Black culture. Over the 2 days, visitors will have access to the most culturally diverse combination of our different Black communities here in the UK with experiences ranging across music, art, fashion, hair, dance, food and more.Radiate Festival • Cultural Style Week (21 * 27 May) - Cultural Style Week is a new global movement to encourage and empower people of all backgrounds to celebrate their unique cultural heritage through fashion, hair and beauty and everyone can take part! Cultural Style Week •In the Black Fantastic - An exhibition of 11 contemporary artists from the African diaspora, who draw on science fiction, myth and Afrofuturism to question our knowledge of the world. In the Black Fantastic. •We Black Women (Donmar Warehouse, 06 May - 30 July) - Who are our heroes? Leading actresses meet the women who inspire them. WE. BLACK WOMEN. is an exhibition curated by Donmar Associate Artist Joan Iyiola that shifts our perspective on British history by putting the collective experiences of black women at the centre of the conversation. Featuring Sheila Atim, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Joyclen Buffong, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Noma Dumezweni, Dr Christine Ekechi, Decima Francis MBE, Akua Gyamfi, Naomie Harris, Afua Hirsch, Joan Iyiola, Anaya Kamara, Faith Locken, June Nicol-Dundas, and Susan Wokoma. We Black Women B(Y8 Northumberland Ave, London WC2N 5BY BOOKS • The Frontline by Ishmahil Blagrove -The Frontline is the culmination of over three decades of interviews with over 160 contributors. It is the result of seven years of research and preparation, amounting to over 240 hours of recordings. This is the story of struggle, resistance and black identity in Notting Hill.The book will be launched at the Tabernacle Centre, Powis Square on 24th June @7pm. The Frontline

• Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire - With her first full-length poetry collection, Warsan Shire introduces us to a girl who, in the absence of a nurturing guide, makes her own stumbling way toward womanhood. Drawing from her own life and the lives of loved ones, as well as pop culture and news headlines, Shire finds vivid, unique details in the experiences of refugees and immigrants, mothers and daughters, Black women and teenage girls. Book • Trail of Echoes : A Detective Elouise Norton Novel : 3 by Rachel Howzell Hall - On a rainy spring day in Los Angeles, homicide detective Elouise Lou Norton is called away from a rare lunch date to Bonner Park, where the body of thirteen-year-old Chanita Lords has been discovered. When Lou and her partner, Colin Taggert, take on the sad task of informing Chanita's mother, Lou is surprised to find herself in the apartment building she grew up in. Chanita was interested in photography and, much like Lou, a black girl destined to leave the housing projects behind. Her death fits a chilling pattern of exceptional African-American girls--dancers, artists, honours scholars-gone recently missing in the same school district, the one Lou attended not so long ago. Book • Unearthed by Claire Ratinon - "When we speak of our origins, that which made us, we speak of our roots. We acknowledge how our identities are intertwined with land, whether it's the one we are standing on or another we lay claim to." Unearthed is the story of how Claire Ratinon found belonging through falling in love with growing plants. For years her troubled relationship with the land of her birth left her feeling unwanted, but reconnecting with nature allowed her finally to put down roots. Book- • Akata Woman (The Nsibidi Scripts Book 3) - The electrifying third book in the series that started with Akata Witch, named one of Timemagazine's "100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time" and "100 Best YA Books of All Time," from award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor. In this series, Okorafor creates a stunningly original world of African magic that draws on Nigerian folk beliefs and rituals instead of relying on the predictable tropes of Western fantasy novels."—Time magazineBook PODCASTS • Homegrown-The Expat Podcast - Founded by Nigerian-British expats, Marie-Louisa Awolaja and Folahan Sowole, HomeGrown The Podcast serves to showcase life in Hong Kong for the black community globally. Curious about what life would be like as a Black Expat in Asia? Find your answers in the warm, honest and personal retellings in this podcast. Listen to HomeGrown via Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Homegrown •Blaxit Global - Hugely centered on the wide-ranging and varying experiences of the African diaspora abroad, Blaxit Global podcast chronicles the ‘Blaxit’ from the United States out into the exciting and often times daunting world of Black Expathood. Blaxit Global is largely about educating, informing and empowering listeners, all while host Chrishan Wright delves deeply into the work of demystifying the process of moving abroad. Blaxit Global RADIO • Screenlately Show - Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe has revealed on Twitter that Marcus Ryder the media diversity champion, Adjani Salmon the RTS & BAFTA award-winning writer and the actress Karen Bryson (currently appearing in BBC 1’s ‘The Split’) will be the first guests on his new Choice FM UK radio show which he will be co-presenting every week with his wife Clare. The husband and wife duo will launch their new show – The Screenlately Show – on Thursday, May 5, 9 months after Emmanuel stepped down as director of the British Urban Film Festival to become chief columnist at screenlately.com. Maya Angelou • Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams- Queenie is the debut novel by Candice Carty-Williams, a darkly comic and unflinchingly raw depiction of a young woman trying to navigate her way in the world.

Quennie

FILM/TV •Noughts and Crosses (BBC Iplayer) -Noughts + Crosses series 2 is now live on BBC iPlayer. Viewers will be able to watch the second series, based on Malorie Blackman's bestselling novels, as a full boxset Jack Rowan and Masali Baduza are reprising their roles as forbidden lovers Callum and Sephy in the upcoming series, as they desperately try to escape Albion in search of a new life together. • Truth Be Told (apple TV)- Octavia Spencer stars as Poppy Parnell, a Bay Area journalist who made her name covering the 1999 murder of Stanford professor Chuck Buhrmann. Her reporting proved instrumental in the conviction of the victim’s 17-year-old neighbor, Warren Cave (played as an adult by Aaron Paul). But 19 years later, new evidence that a witness, Chuck’s then-teenage daughter Lanie (Lizzy Caplan), was coached compels Poppy to retrace her steps—in a revelatory first-person podcast, naturally (TIME Magazine). Truth be Told • The Real Housewives of Lagos - The Real Housewives franchise has been hugely popular, showcasing the lifestyles of wealthy women across the world. Now for the first time, a series set in Nigeria has been launched, featuring several of Lagos's most glamorous socialites (BBC). Real Housewives of Lagos • Journey of An African Colony (NETFLIX) - This docuseries delves into the untold stories and unsung heroes that paved Nigeria's road to independence. Based on the books by host Olasupo Shasore. • In Our Marthers Garden (Netflix) - Black women from across the globe unlock stories of their mothers to redefine holistic lives rooted in radical self-care and healing in this documentary. WHAT AM I PAYING ATTENTION TO? • ARchive for Black British stories of struggle and success to be set up- Organisers of a new archive of spoken accounts want to hear from Black Britons over the decades with a story to tell. From the original arrivals from the Commonwealth to the subsequent generations of Black Britons of today, it’s a way they hope to describe the struggle and successes of being Black and British. https://www.itv.com/news/2022-04-06/archive-for-black-british-stories-of-struggle-and-success-to-be-set-up • First black man to head Cambridge University college shares remarkable success story) - Lord Simon Woolley wants to encourage more black and working-class children to go to university. https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/first-black-man-head-cambridge-23836397 WHAT I AM PERSONALLY RECOMMENDING? 1. 12:51 - 12:51 is James Cochran's signature restaurant. With parents from St. Vincent in the Caribbean and Glasgow, Scotland, he grew up by the sea in Whitstable, Kent - a mixed-heritage reflected in his innovative and exciting dishes. After getting his first job at Wheeler’s Oyster Bar in his hometown, his talent took him to the world-renowned, two-Michelin-starred, The Ledbury - where he honed his skills under mentor Brett Graham - before he went on to run the kitchen at Michelin-starred gastropub The Harwood Arms. 12:51 2. Fruitvale Station - Passionate and powerfully acted, Fruitvale Station serves as a celebration of life, a condemnation of death, and a triumph for star Michael B. Jordan (rotten Tomatoes). 3. The Hate U Give - Iconic book and movie from Angie Thomas' bestselling book.