Showing titles in Cultural & Regional

“You don’t have to be Irish to cherish this literary gift—just being human and curious and from a family will suffice.” —Malachy McCourt, New York Times bestselling author of A Monk Swimming In the tradition of Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes and Alice Taylor’s To School Through...

Brought to you by Penguin. ‘The roads don’t forget, and old reputations cling on, drawing trouble even when someone’s trying to start fresh.’ Take a step into the heart of the British inner city with Trapped Life, a searingly candid narrative that shatters sensationalist headlines to...

I Am Not Your Baby Mother was a landmark publication in 2020. A thought-provoking, urgent and inspirational guide to life as a Black British mum, it was an important call-to-arms allowing mothers to take control and scrap the parenting rulebook to do it their own way. It was a Sunday Times top-five best seller. Sista Sister is a compilation of essays about all the things Candice wishes someone had talked to her about when she was a young Black girl growing up in London. 

A waiter's job is to deceive you. They want you to believe in a luxurious calm because on the other side of that door...is hell. Edward Chisholm's spellbinding memoir of his time as a Parisian waiter takes you below the surface of one of the most iconic cities in the world and right into its...

Sanctuary is an ancient right. But what does it mean today? Drawing on a lifetime of engagement with literature, myth, history and tradition from different cultures, Marina Warner's Sanctuary is an ambitious attempt to grapple with the sharpest questions that we are facing in today's world of...

“In her long and extraordinary career, Cicely Tyson has not only exceeded as an actor, she has shaped the course of history.” –President Barack Obama, 2016 Presidential Medal of Honor ceremony "Just As I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set...

This audiobook features an exclusive Q&A between reader Chipo Chung and author, Dorcas Gwata 'Fascinating . . . While the rest of us are worrying about it, Dorcas Gwata is doing something about it' - Wendy Joseph, author of Unlawful Killings Through the lives of ten young people an award-winning...

Brought to you by Penguin. The author of The Ruin of All Witches returns with a gripping, vividly told journey of rediscovery, uncovering his uncle’s past as a soldier, prisoner, fugitive and partisan in World War Two Italy Malcolm Gaskill knew two things about his great-uncle Ralph’s...

George the Poet knows better than anybody the importance of understanding your surroundings. Born to Ugandan parents on the St Raphael's Estate in Neasden, north-west London, George Mpanga has always been aware of his community. It was both his teacher and his inspiration - giving him the language, the experiences, and the skills to become the person he is today. In Track Record, George unveils the power dynamics that shape our world, shedding light on the forces that restrict Black creativity and put limits on Black excellence.

Brought to you by Penguin. The thoughtful and revealing memoir from one of the world's most recognisable women, renowned for her bold risk-taking, multiculturalism, and activism. "I am a product of traditional India and its ancient wisdom, and modern India and its urban bustle. My upbringing was...

Whatever Jenn Ashworth turns her hand to, I'm there to read it' BENJAMIN MYERS, author of The Offing 'With honesty, humour and determination, Ashworth's journey takes the reader from coast to coast in search of freedom' JESSICA ANDREWS, author of Milk Teeth 'A miracle of a book . . . One of our...

Audiobook narrated by author. “Madia’s adventurous tales transcend their rugged terrain, telling, at the crux of it all, very human stories”—The Source New York Times bestselling author of Nowhere for Very Long and Never Leave the Dogs Behind Brianna Madia considers putting down...

Brought to you by Penguin. Samantha’s mother tongue is dying out. An urgent need to find out more becomes an expansive investigation into how to keep hold of her culture – and when to let it go The daughter of Iraqi Jewish refugees, Samantha grew up surrounded by the noisy, vivid, hot sounds...

In this often violent but always introspective memoir, Mobb Deep’s Prodigy tells his much anticipated story of struggle, survival, and hope down the mean streets of New York City. For the first time, he gives an intimate look at his family background, his battles with drugs, his life of crime, his relentless suffering with sickle-cell anemia, and much more.

Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, Nemonte Nenquimo was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. Age 14, she left the forest for the first time to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. Eventually, her ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture. She listened. Two decades later, Nemonte has emerged as one of the most forceful voices in climate-change activism.

New York City, 1929. A sanatorium, a deadly disease, and a dire nurse shortage. So begins the remarkable true story of the Black nurses who helped cure tuberculosis, one of the world's deadliest plagues, told alongside the often strange chronicle of the cure's discovery. Spanning the Great Depression and moving through World War II and beyond, this story follows the intrepid young women, the 'Black Angels', who, for twenty years, risked their lives working under dreadful conditions while caring for the city's poorest.

No singer has been more mythologized and more misunderstood than jazz legend Billie Holiday, who helped to create much of the mystique herself with her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues - and this authentic biography sets the record straight. Donald Clarke was given unrivaled access to a treasure trove of interviews from the 1970s with those who knew Lady Day in all stages of her short, tragic life - from her childhood in the streets and good-time houses of Baltimore, through the early days of success in New York and the years of fame, to her tragic decline.

GOLD WINNER OF 'BEST NARRATOR' AT THE AUDIO PRODUCTION AWARDS. 'This guy has better Punjabi than both of us and he's only half Punjabi.' Only. Half. I stared at those words. The intent behind the comment was in no way malicious, but it hurt. I felt diminished. I felt like I was being robbed of...

Beginning with a sweetly funny, moving account of her arranged marriage, the author undercuts stereotypes and offers the refreshing view of an American life through Muslim eyes. In chapters leavened with humor, hope, and insight, she recounts an immigrant's daily struggles balancing assimilation with preserving heritage, overcoming religious barriers from within and distortions of Islam from without, and confronting issues of raising her children as Muslims - while they lobby for a Christmas tree!

When his Los Angeles neighborhood was threatened by gangbangers, Stanley Tookie Williams and a friend formed the Crips, but what began as protection became worse than the original gangs. From deadly street fights with their rivals to drive-by shootings and stealing cars, the Crips' influence—and Tookie's reputation—began to spread across Los Angeles. Soon he was regularly under police surveillance, and, as a result, was arrested often, though always released because the charges did not stick.