Racial Justice Sunday Reading List Following Claire’s thought-provoking sermon for Racial Justice Sunday, here are a few books recommended by members of the church for you to enjoy. Novels Refugee Boy – Benjamin Zephaniah Alem is on holiday with his father for a few days in London. He has never been out of Ethiopia before and is very excited. They have a great few days together until one morning when Alem wakes up in the bed and breakfast they are staying at to find the unthinkable. His father has left him… because of the political problems in Ethiopia both he and Alem's mother felt Alem would be safer in London... Alem is now on his own, in the hands of the social services and the Refugee Council... Brick Lane - Monica Ali Still in her teenage years, Nazneen finds herself in an arranged marriage with a disappointed older man. Away from her Bangladeshi village, home is now a cramped flat in a high-rise block in London's East End. Nazneen knows not a word of English, and is forced to depend on her husband. Confined in her tiny flat, Nazneen sews furiously for a living, shut away with her buttons and linings - until the radical Karim steps unexpectedly into her life. On a background of racial conflict and tension, they embark on a love affair that forces Nazneen finally to take control of her fate. (Man Booker Prize shortlist 2003) The Boy With The Top Knot - Satham Sanghera For Sathnam Sanghera, growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand, these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes, Dallas on TV and, if he was lucky, the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other, there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks, his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory and the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot. And then there was his family, whose strange and often difficult behaviour he took for granted…he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past - from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office. Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo This is Britain as you've never read it. This is Britain as it has never been told. From Newcastle to Cornwall, from the birth of the twentieth century to the teens of the twenty-first, Girl, Woman, Other follows a cast of twelve characters on their personal journeys through this country and the last hundred years. They're each looking for something - a shared past, an unexpected future, a place to call home, somewhere to fit in, a lover, a missed mother, a lost father, even just a touch of hope . . . Booker Prize winner 2019 Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, works as a houseboy for a university professor. Olanna, a young woman, has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos to live with her charismatic new lover, the professor. And Richard, a shy English writer, is in thrall to Olanna’s enigmatic twin sister. As the horrific Biafran War engulfs them, they are thrown together and pulled apart in ways they had never imagined. A novel about Africa in a wider sense: about the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class and race – and about the ways in which love can complicate all of these things. Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2007 Poetry Selected Poems – Femi Oyebode Oyebode is a Nigerian poet and doctor (for many years working as a psychiatrist in Birmingham). His root society is his Yoruba homeland. He lives and writes in the foreign culture and belongs to, and is alienated from, aspects of both societies at the same time. His poetic longing is for the root culture - his exile has made the desire to keep the dream of home alive inevitable. Non-Fiction Every Tribe. Stories of Diverse Saints Serving a Diverse World - Sharon Prentis Why are all the saints in our stained glass windows white?...Every Tribe celebrates the true diversity of the saints, inspiring the church to become what is meant to be: the rainbow people of God serving the diverse needs of a diverse world. We Need To Talk About Race – Ben Lindsay Eye-opening insights into the black religious experience, challenging the status quo in white majority churches…a comprehensive analysis of race relations in the Church in the UK and shows us how we can work together to create a truly inclusive church community. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race – Reni Edd-Lodge The book that sparked a national conversation. Exploring everything from eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race…the essential handbook for anyone who wants to understand race relations in Britain today. Is God Colour-Blind? Insights from Black Theology for Christian Faith and Ministry – Anthony Reddie This insightful guide shows how Black theology makes a difference to Christian thought and practice. Full of Bible studies and practical exercises, here is a stimulating resource that encourages a new awareness of ourselves and others. The 2020 edition has a new afterword on the Black Lives Matter movement, and the difference it is making in the struggle for a society where we are all equally accepted and respected as God's children.