If you have stuck around, then I applaud you because I haven’t had time to be very regular with this newsletter. Sorry! But we’ve all had far too much to read, follow, watch and so hopefully you haven’t missed me too much.
Time has run away. I have been doing virtual literary festivals and books talks for SWAY that came out early April in UK and in June in the USA, and doing many unconscious bias talks and anti-racism workshops (virtually) for schools, charities, Universities and global organisations. And really delighted to be doing my first real-life literary festival for Cheltenham sharing the stage with Elif Shafak! Do join in if you can.
A surprise recommendation from Philippa Perry is always worth sharing.
During this time I also wrote ‘Wish We Knew What to Say: Talking With Children About Race', that is out with Dialogue/Little Brown in October.
While we witnessed the murder of George Floyd and Breona Taylor in the USA and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protest, there was a mini-awakening with people suddenly becoming much more conscious of how important it is to address our own biases but also talk more openly and honestly about it with our children. But I was concerned that as we move on to other things, this can get forgotten, something that gets ignored in the rigmaroles of everyday lives. And so I really wanted to put together a resource that parents, carers—basically anyone who works with children or is responsible for them—can refer to to carry on this work regularly and consistently. If we have any hope of building a post-racial society, we have to make sure we raise children who are race-conscious, and who are self-assured and confident of their own racial identities, no matter what our ethnic background.
Built on science of how children form biases and how they form a sense of self, and using personal experiences and case studies, the book brings up questions that children might ask, or you can use as conversation starters. It also has an exhaustive list of resources that both adults and children can use to carry on the anti-racist education at home.
Here are some of the blurbs that we have already received for the book, and I am so grateful for anyone who has read it so quickly and supported it.
WRITING WORKSHOP:
Non-fiction saw a rise of 22% in readership pre-lockdown and over 30% post-lockdown as per recent data from The Bookseller. This is a good time to be completing that non-fiction book that you have planned!
If you are working on your own non-fiction book, then I have a masterclass coming up on 15 October. This will be a 2 hour workshop on ‘RESEARCHING FOR NON-FICTION’ via zoom distilling everything I have learnt through my 15 years as a research academic, and my experience of writing three non-fiction books for broader audience recently. Some of the topics include:
Writing your non-fiction book research plan
Researching a non-fiction book to write a proposal
Researching academic papers and journals
How to do primary source research
How to organise research
How to cite and reference research in your writing
It will be a small group workshop so that I have time for Q&A. If you are interested in joining please paypal me below using ‘friends and family’ option. It is pay what you can afford, with recommended fee of £25 if you are able to afford it and if you consider the value of the workshop worth this price.
The reason for the 'pay what you can afford' offer is that it helps to subsidise places for those who can't afford it. Hope this is of interest to you. Click on the button to pay and book.
I will also be running a masterclass on writing a non-fiction proposal and submitting to agents once again very soon so do keep subscribed and I will circulate information in the next week or so.
If you are looking for fiction workshops, Nikesh Shukla is running some workshops. I attended his first one on planning your novel and it was fantastic. See his twitter for more details or find it here.