Author:Chelsea Kwakye,Ore Ogunbiyi
'Brilliant' CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS, author of QUEENIE
'Essential' BERNARDINE EVARISTO, author of GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER
'Hugely important' PAULA AKPAN
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As a minority in a predominantly white institution, taking up space is an act of resistance. Recent Cambridge grads Chelsea and Ore experienced this first-hand, and wrote Taking Up Space as a guide and a manifesto for change.
FOR BLACK GIRLS:
Understand that your journey is unique. Use this book as a guide. Our wish for you is that you read this and feel empowered, comforted and validated in every emotion you experience, or decision that you make.
FOR EVERYONE ELSE:
We can only hope that reading this helps you to be a better friend, parent, sibling or teacher to black girls living through what we did. It's time we stepped away from seeing this as a problem that black people are charged with solving on their own.
It's a collective effort.
And everyone has a role to play.
Featuring honest conversations with students past and present, Taking Up Space goes beyond the buzzwords of diversity and inclusion and explores what those words truly mean for young black girls today.
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#Merky Books was set up by publishers Penguin Random House and Stormzy in June 2018 to find and publish the best writers of a new generation and to publish the stories that are not being heard. #Merky Books aims to open up the world of publishing, and this year has launched a New Writer's Prize and will soon be launching a #Merky Books traineeship.
'I know too many talented writers that don't always have an outlet or a means to get their work seen, and hopefully #Merky Books can now be a reference point for them to say "I can be an author", and for that to be a realistic and achievable goal... Reading and writing as a kid were integral to where I am today and I, from the bottom of my heart, cannot wait to hear your stories and get them out into the big wide world.'
STORMZY
Brilliant… Full of the knowledge, understanding, tools and kindness that every black girl needs.
—— Candice Carty-WilliamsIntimate... like reading the diary of a well-informed friend. The result is a bold venture... full of what will be revelations to some and reminders to others. The authors dignify the argument with nuance, and puncture the tendency to see black students as a monolith... For countless black women in Britain, a century after women's suffrage and in spite of the Race Relations Act, it can feel like the glass ceiling is reinforced by concrete, with those above unable to see below. And self-help, it seems, remains essential.
—— TLSTaking Up Space is a shocking account of how racism operates in the academy from a student viewpoint. An essential contribution.
—— Bernardine EvaristoA hugely important tool that I wish I’d had to guide me through university.
—— Paula AkpanThe book is an enthralling case study of the art, in which Powell carefully establishes his argument for why dialogue with terror groups is usually necessary
—— Anthony Loyd , New StatesmanIt is a witty, light-footed, anecdote-rich history of the recent art of talking to terrorists
—— Justin Webb , The TimesThoughtful, well-structured, intelligent and well-informed
—— Conor Gearty , Irish TimesIntelligent and insightful book on conflict resolution
—— Andrew Lynch , Sunday Business Post[An] absorbing and authoritative study
—— Michael Ignatieff , Sunday TimesUtterly compelling, top proper stuff. I loved it to bits. The energy of it! I really felt for them (all) by the end
—— Ian Marchant, Author of A Hero for High TimesReally good, clever, dazzling in its anger and the force of its argument
—— Nicola Shulman , Times Literary Supplement[A] brilliant book... Beard's breathtaking personal account of the British habit of the British habit of institutionalising elite children captures all the nuances and subtleties of the boarder's undoing and its lasting legacy into adulthood
—— Nick Duffell , Therapy TodayDefinitive and brilliantly expressed
—— Viv Groskop[A] brilliantly excoriating book
—— New StatesmanA pleasant and heartfelt account of one man's brief journey into and out of education... unquestionably funny... poignant and very personal
—— Emma Williams , Schools WeekVery funny, often inspiring, occasionally tragic - and a timely reminder of the unforgettable influence of great teachers
—— Daily MailEngaging . . . Kessler approaches her topic with even-handedness and rigour.
—— Maclean’sBrilliantly in-depth not only in the explanations of the gig economy, but in the narratives of people who work gigs as well.
—— Washington TimesAs well-reported, and at times as emotionally wrenching, as Amy Goldstein’s Janesville . . . In facing . . . the fraying of the social contract between employer and employee, Sarah Kessler's work in Gigged makes one thing increasingly clear: we must get busy building a new one that benefits all sides of that relationship, and the society around it.
—— Editor’s Choice , 800 CEO ReadGoes under the bonnet of the gig economy.
—— What CEOs Are Reading , Management TodayKessler’s recent book Gigged is all about [the] desire for independence . . . Kessler investigates the liberating ethos and terrible trade-offs of this new economy by following several people working in such positions. She discovers why the revolution in “independent contractor” work – which comes without guarantees for minimum wages, paid vacation, or health benefits – is paradise for one slice of the population, but has been disappointing, and in some cases devastating, for others.
—— QuartzFor those interested in inquiries into modern (and future) work, there’s Gigged by Sarah Kessler, an analysis of the gig economy.
—— Books of the Year , Buzzfeed NewsLooks at the potential of the gig economy and ultimately the problems it bears.
—— Books of the Year , Fast Company