Black Writing in Britain: Going Back to Move Forward—Black Consciousness Now and in the Archives

Abstract

This chapter contextualises instances of reading in Black Writing in Britain by citing these within the history of Black Consciousness bookshops in the UK and acknowledging the part these bookshops played in the wider Black Consciousness movement, which was led by publishers, writers, and education activists. The chapter argues that Black Consciousness remains a defining feature of Black Writing in Britain, that it is traceable in literary texts through their representations of acts of reading, but that it has adapted with the changing socioeconomic context and no longer conveys a strong sense of community activism, but is instead located in the individual. Texts considered include Zadie Smith’s Swing Time, Helen Oyeyemi’s The Opposite House, Bernardine Evaristo’s Mr Loverman, and Kwame Kwei-Armah’s Fix-up.