Written by Bunmi Enola
This October, the 2024 theme for black history month is ‘reclaiming narratives’ – a theme that resonates with people that identify as black, with black heritage, culture, and norms.
The significant shift to reclaiming the black narratives resonates deeply within the community and beyond. For a long time, black stories and narratives or the stories that took centre stage often told by others removed, diminished, construed or stereotyped the stories of the many black individuals and black communities that contributed to the UK and the globe.
Stories – they serve to educate, inform, tell our truths, and cement communities together. Books are one way to do that, and in this reflective on the black authors that have written books that do such.
I find Candice Carty-Williams’ book – People Person to be one written excellently, emotionally intelligent, funny and full of intentionality as she weaves through the tapestry of the story of 5 siblings, (1 dad, 4 different mothers) – The Penningtons who were thrust into each other’s lives as adults, never having grown up together navigate what it means to be a black family in modern Britain, especially during a family crisis, micro aggressions, black sisterhood, bi- racial identities, abandonment issues due to absent fathers, single mums and motherhood. The complexities of their stories end of making the reader understand that family life and what is considered as family comes in various forms or shape: from forgiveness, acceptance and eventual shall we dare say it’ love’.