Academic Trade Key Titles January-June 2023

UK: Sarah Ailsby: Sarah.Ailsby@bloomsbury.com Europe: Bianca Belcher: Bianca.Belcher@bloomsbury.com

The cover image is a photo from Bloomsbury’s new author lounge at our offices in Bedford Square, in the heart of London’s Bloomsbury. Interiors designed by Minnie Kemp.

Introduction

Welcome to the second issue of Bloomsbury Academic’s key titles catalogue. On these pages you’ll find books for the general reader, going beyond our traditional remit of academic titles for scholars, teachers and students. The thought-provoking, thoroughly researched and intelligent books that you’ll see here cover literature, religion, politics, theatre, music and film and we can’t wait to see which titles spark your interest.

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of I.B. Tauris, an imprint which has long been recognised as a world leader in Middle East Studies, and a major presence in Politics & International Relations publishing, there are several upcoming politics titles that I am particularly looking forward to this season that continue in this remarkable legacy.

New books include: Freedom, Only Freedom (page 4), a moving, creative and challenging account of the Kurdish Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani’s imprisonment in the Manus Island detention centre; August in Kabul (page 10), an examination of the US evacuation of Kabul by the award-winning Australian journalist Andrew Quilty; and Memory Makers (page 12) by Jade McGlynn which explores the Kremlin’s use of Russian media to enshrine patriotic history into everyday Russian life.

Another title to look out for is My Shakespeare: A Director’s Journey Through The First Folio (page 9) by Greg Doran, the Artistic Director Emeritus of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Publishing to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the original publication of Shakespeare's First Folio, the book charts Doran’s personal and professional journey, through a detailed account of his experiences directing and producing Shakespeare's plays.

All the best, Matthew Emery, UK Academic and Professional Sales Director Matthew.Emery@bloomsbury.com

Original Non-Fiction

Freedom, Only Freedom

The Prison Writings of Behrouz

Boochani

Behrouz Boochani

Over six years of imprisonment in Australia’s offshore migrant detention centre, the Kurdish Iranian journalist and writer Behrouz Boochani bore personal witness to the suffering and degradation inflicted on him and his fellow refugees, culminating eventually in his prize-winning book - No Friend but the Mountains - which was painstakingly typed out in text messages while he was incarcerated.

In the articles, essays, and poems he wrote, he emerged as a deeply humane voice which speaks for the plight of the many thousands of detained migrants across the world.

In this book, his collected writings are combined with essays from experts on migration, refugee rights, politics, and literature. Together, they provide a moving and challenging account of not only one writer’s harrowing experience and inspiring resilience, but the wider structures of violence which hold thousands of human beings in a state of misery in migrant camps throughout the Western Hemisphere and beyond.

Behrouz Boochani is a writer, journalist, scholar, cultural advocate and filmmaker. His book, No Friend But The Mountains: Writing From Manus Prison won Australia’s prestigious 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature.

Omid Tofighian is the translator of Behrouz Boochani’s multi-award winning book No Friend but the Mountains (2018).

Moones Mansoubi is a community, arts and cultural development worker. She was the first translator of Behrouz Boochani’s work.

21st January 2023 | 336 pages Hardback 9780755642656 | £20 ePub 9780755642670 | £18 ePDF 9780755642663 | £18

Bloomsbury Academic

9th February 2023 | 353 pages

Paperback 9781501367311 | £14.99 ePub 9781501367328 | £13.49 ePDF 9781501367335 | £13.49

Bloomsbury Academic

“Here is ‘the skinny’ ... on one of the most charismatic and complex crime writers on the planet, affording insights into both the man and his craft. It’s every bit as gripping and twisted as a James Ellroy novel.”

– Ian Rankin

Love Me Fierce In Danger

The Life of James Ellroy

Steven Powell

The first critical biography of a titan of American crime fiction.

Love Me Fierce In Danger recounts the fascinating life of the novelist James Ellroy, one of the most provocative and singular figures in American literature. However, his success has come at a high cost.

When Ellroy was just ten years old, his mother was brutally murdered. The crime went unsolved, and her death marked the start of a long and turbulent road for Ellroy that has included struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness, and jail time. Tracing the history of his life and career, Steven Powell reveals how Ellroy’s upbringing in LA, always on the periphery of Hollywood, had a substantial influence on his later work as a novelist. Using new sources, Steven Powell uncovers Ellroy’s family secrets, including the mysterious first marriage of his mother Jean Ellroy, eighteen years before her murder. At the heart of this biography is the story of how Ellroy overcame his demons to become the bestselling author of such classics as The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential.

Informed by interviews with friends, family, peers, and literary and Hollywood collaborators, as well as extensive conversations with Ellroy himself, Love Me Fierce In Danger pulls back the curtain on an enigmatic figure who has courted acclaim and controversy with equal zealotry.

Steven Powell is the editor of Conversations with James Ellroy (2012) and 100 American Crime Writers (2012). He lives in Liverpool, UK.

Mary Magdalene A Visual History

Diane Apostolos-Cappadona

From faithful apostle and seductress to feminist icon, Mary Magdalene’s many complex roles in Christian history have fascinated us for 2000 years. Illustrated in full colour, this visual history reveals how images and presentations have created a Mary who is often far different from the real woman, the first witness of the Resurrection in the gospels, or even from her appearances in the works of the Church Fathers.

Beginning with the earliest sources, uncover who the real Mary was, and what she meant in her own time, before embarking on a fast-paced tour of Magdalene’s depictions in great works of art, forgotten masterpieces and contemporary visual culture. Considering relics, statuary, paintings, sculpture and recent works for stage and screen, discover how Mary Magdalene has been seen across time as a witness, a sinner, a penitent, a contemplative, a preacher and a patroness.

Above all her complex roles, Mary has emerged as a powerful feminist icon, the closest person to Jesus himself, with a visual history as rich and varied as the roles she has fulfilled in numerous contexts of faith and worship for two millennia.

Diane Apostolos-Cappadona is Professor

Emerita of Religious Art and Cultural History and Haub Director in the Catholic Studies Program, Georgetown University, USA.

23rd February 2023 | 176 pages

Hardback 9780567705747 | £17.99

ePub 9780567705761 | £16.19 ePDF 9780567705754 | £16.19

65 colour images Bloomsbury Academic

23rd March 2023 | 256 pages

Hardback 9781350269989 | £20

ePub 9781350269996 | £18 ePDF 9781350270008 | £18

Bloomsbury Academic

Silent Coup How Corporations Overthrew

Democracy

Claire Provost and Matt Kennard

As European empires crumbled in the 20th century, the power structures that had dominated the world for centuries were up for renegotiation. Yet instead of a rebirth for democracy, what emerged was a silent coup – namely, the unstoppable rise of global corporate power.

Exposing the origins of this epic power grab as well as its present-day consequences, Silent Coup is the result of two investigative journalist’s reports from 30 countries around the world. It provides an explosive guide to the rise of a corporate empire that now dictates how resources are allocated, how territories are governed, and how justice is defined.

Claire Provost is global investigations editor at openDemocracy, a global independent media platform headquartered in London, where she leads a team of 13 investigative journalists and editors based across nine countries in Europe, Africa and the Americas. Previously, she was a fellow at the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) in London and a data journalist at The Guardian.

Matt Kennard is co-founder, and chief investigator, at Declassified UK, a news outlet investigating British foreign policy. He was a fellow and then director at the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) in London, UK. He has worked as a staff writer for the Financial Times in Washington DC, New York, and London. He is the author of two acclaimed books: Irregular Army (2012) and The Racket (2015).

Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police A Cold War Escape

Stejarel Olaru

Nadia Comaneci is the Romanian gymnastics star who fled the brutal communist regime of her homeland.

At the age of just 14, Nadia became the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and went on to collect three gold medals in performances which influenced the sport for generations to come. However, as the communist authorities in Romania sought an iron grip over its highest profile athletes, Nadia and her trainers were subjected to surveillance from the Securitate, the Romanian secret police. Drawing on 25,000 secret police archive pages, countless secret service intelligence documents, and numerous wiretap recordings, this book tells the compelling story of Nadia’s life and career using unique insights from the communist dictatorship which monitored her. What is revealed is a thrilling tale of endurance and escape in which one of the world’s greatest gymnasts risked everything for freedom.

Stejarel Olaru is a Romanian historian, writer and broadcaster. He was National Security Advisor for the Romanian Prime Minister (2006-2008) and has published several books on the modern history of Romania.

Alistair Ian Blyth is a Translator with more than 15 years’ experience of translating from Romanian into his native English.

6th April 2023 | 368 pages

Hardback 9781350321298 | £25

ePub 9781350321311 | £22.50

ePDF 9781350321304 | £22.50

Bloomsbury Academic

20th April 2023 | 344 pages

Hardback 9781350330191 | £25 ePub 9781350330207 | £22.50 ePDF 9781350330214 | £22.50

32 colour images

Methuen Drama

My Shakespeare

A Director’s Journey through the First Folio

Greg Doran

This book charts the personal and professional journey of Greg Doran, Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2012 until 2022 and “one of the great Shakespearians of his generation” (The Sunday Times).

During his illustrious career, Doran has directed or produced all of the plays within Shakespeare’s First Folio – a milestone reached in the same year that the world celebrates the 400th anniversary of the First Folio’s original publication.

Each of the book’s chapters looks at a different play, considering the choices made and weaving in both autobiographical detail and background on the RSC, as well as giving insights on key collaborations, including with actors such as Judi Dench, David Tennant, Harriet Walter, Patrick Stewart, Simon Russell Beale, Paterson Joseph and Doran’s husband, the late Antony Sher, as well as seminal teachers such as Cicely Berry, John Barton and Terry Hands.

This book uniquely captures the excitement, energy, surprises, joys and agonies of working on these greatest of plays and gives unprecedented access into the life and loves of this exceptional director.

Greg Doran was the Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2012-2022. He has directed and produced every single play in the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays at Stratford-upon-Avon.

August in Kabul

America's Last Days in Afghanistan

Andrew Quilty

Told through the eyes of witnesses to the fall of Kabul, the award-winning Australian journalist Andrew Quilty’s debut publication offers a remarkable record of this historic moment.

As night fell on 15 August 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul. After a 20-year conflict with the United States, its Western allies and a proxy Afghan government, the Islamic militant group once aligned with al Qaeda was about to bury yet another foreign foe in the graveyard of empires. And for the US, this was yet another foreign disaster.

August in Kabul is the story of how America’s longest mission came to an abrupt and humiliating end, told through the eyes of Afghans whose lives have been turned upside down: a young woman who harbours dreams of a university education; a presidential staffer who works desperately to hold things together as the government collapses around him; a prisoner in the notorious Bagram Prison who suddenly finds himself free when prison guards abandon their post. Andrew Quilty was one of a handful of Western journalists who stayed in Kabul as the city fell. This is his first-hand account of those dramatic final days.

Andrew Quilty is the recipient of nine Walkley Awards, including the Gold Walkley, for his work on Afghanistan. He has also received the George Polk Award, the World Press Photo Award and the Overseas Press Club of America award for his investigation into massacres committed by a CIAbacked Afghan militia.

4th May 2023 | 304 pages

Hardback 9781350370319 | £20 ePub 9781350370326 | £18 ePDF 9781350370333 | £18

24 black and white images Bloomsbury Academic

© Kiana Hayeri

18th May 2023 | 264 pages

Hardback 9781350272262 | £20

ePub 9781350272286 | £18 ePDF 9781350272279 | £18

Bloomsbury Academic

Writers and Their Teachers

Dale Salwak

By turns reflective, entertaining and moving, this book reveals how some of the most influential and best loved writers of our time were shaped by their inspirational teachers. Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee, Margaret Drabble, Stephen Greenblatt, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Andrew Motion, Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina and Paul Theroux are among the twenty contributors of original essays to this landmark volume celebrating masters of the teaching profession.

What makes a good teacher? What lights the writer’s creative fire? How can the teacher shape the writer? This book answers these questions and more, describing the powerful influence of mentors at an impressionable time of life, portraying the heart-warming transition from pupil to friend, and exploring the lasting impact that truly great teachers can have on their students.

To have teachers who care, and to have such notable writers capture their spirit, is ample reason to read Dale Salwak’s elegant celebration of the ‘noble profession’ and the world-renowned writers that it helped to hone.

Dale Salwak is Professor of English Literature at Southern California’s Citrus College, USA. His 28 books include Writers and Their Mothers (2018), and studies of Kingsley Amis, John Braine, A. J. Cronin, Philip Larkin, Barbara Pym, Carl Sandburg, Anne Tyler, and John Wain. He is a frequent contributor to the Times Higher Education and the Times Educational Supplement.

Memory Makers

The Politics of the Past in Putin's Russia

Jade McGlynn

History and memory are now at the heart of Russian political and popular culture. Memory Makers charts the policies, practices, and performances that form the Russian government’s ‘call to history’, as a way of coalescing Russian identity around sanitised views of the past. Based on extremely timely and deeply researched case studies on Ukraine, Syria, and the West, Jade McGlynn explores how Russian politicians and a pro-Kremlin media have ‘historically framed’ the news by conflating current policies with past triumphs and traumas. Through this McGlynn sheds critical new light on the role of the highly influential Ministry of Culture and Russian Military Historical Society in constructing a narrative of Russian 'history' which can shape everyday citizen's perceptions of contemporary politics under Putin.

Examining over 2000 articles, media broadcasts, and interviews with cultural producers, Memory Makers demonstrates the vast scale of government initiatives to popularise patriotic history and realise its vision of the ‘culturally conscious’ Russian patriot. In doing so, she draws together developments, often seen as pathologically Russian, into comparison with global political and cultural trends.

Jade McGlynn is the Director of Research at the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), UK, where she previously worked as a Research Fellow specialising in Russian political culture and foreign relations. Prior to joining HJS, Jade worked as a Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Oxford, UK.

1st June 2023 | 246 pages

Hardback 9781350280762 | £20 ePub 9781350280779 | £18 ePDF 9781350280786 | £18

Bloomsbury Academic

1st June 2023 | 288 pages

Hardback 9781501394829 | £20

ePub 9781501394843 | £18 ePDF 9781501394850 | £18

Bloomsbury Academic

The Gutenberg Parenthesis

The Age of Print and Its Lessons for the Age of the Internet

Jeff Jarvis

To help us understand our transition out of the Gutenberg Age, Jeff Jarvis presents a history of print and its technologies – of its spread, of print inventions such as the modern novel, the essay, the newspaper, and of attempts to control speech through censorship and copyright.

The five-century-long age of print was a grand exception in history. It gave rise to a worldview which some call print culture – shaped according to the completeness, permanence, materiality, authorship, and authority of text. As print and its influence on every aspect of life is now eclipsed by new technologies – the internet and data – the contrast between these eras gives us the opportunity to better understand print’s presumptions.

This captivating, profound, challenging, and ultimately optimistic saga contends that we are returning to a time before mass media, to a society built on conversation, and that we are relearning how to hold that conversation with ourselves. Drawing upon the work of scores of scholars in book history, technology, sociology, religion, literature, law, media, and design, The Gutenberg Parenthesis examines the print age on a grand scale and challenges readers to learn its lessons as we design the internet and society of our future.

Jeff Jarvis is the Creator and Founding Manager Editor of Entertainment Weekly and has been a media columnist. He is the author of numerous books, including: Geeks Bearing Gifts: Imagining New Futures for News (2014).

Key Series

OK Michelle McSweeney

12th January 2023

Paperback | 144 pages 9781501367182 | £9.99

Object Lessons

Object Lessons is a series of concise, collectable, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

“Beautiful: elegant paperbacks … every one a curiosity; not just an object, but a world in and of itself.”

– Los Angeles Review of Books

Alarm

Alice Bennett

12th January 2023

Paperback | 152 pages 9781501375576 | £9.99

Blue Jeans

Carolyn Purnell

12th January 2023

Paperback | 160 pages 9781501383748 | £9.99

Mushroom

Sara Rich

12th January 2023

Paperback | 144 pages 9781501386589 | £9.99

Grave Allison C. Meier

9th February 2023

Paperback | 168 pages 9781501383656 | £9.99

“Perfect for slipping in a pocket and pulling out when life is on hold.”

– Toronto Star

“Engaging, thought-provoking, and informative.”

– Washington Independent Review of Books

Pregnancy Test

Karen Weingarten

9th March 2023

Paperback | 160 pages 9781501376542 | £9.99

Bicycle Jonathan Maskit

4th April 2023

Paperback | 160 pages 9781501338090 | £9.99

Wine Meg Bernhard

1st June 2023

Paperback | 160 pages 9781501383618 | £9.99

BFI Film Classics

The BFI Film Classics series introduces, interprets and celebrates landmarks of world cinema. Each volume offers an argument for the film's 'classic' status, together with discussion of its production and reception history, its place within a genre or national cinema, an account of its technical and aesthetic importance, and in many cases, the author's personal response to the film.

“An indispensable part of every cineaste's bookcase”

– Total Film

“Possibly the most bountiful book series in the history of film criticism.”

– Film Comment

Lost in Translation

Suzanne Ferriss

9th March 2023

Paperback | 112 pages 9781839024917 | £11.99

A Taste of Honey

Melanie Williams

20th April 2023

Paperback | 104 pages 9781839021558 | £11.99

“Magnificently concentrated examples of flowing freeform critical poetry.” – Uncut

Memories of Underdevelopment

Darlene J. Sadlier

20th April 2023

Paperback | 104 pages 9781839024979 | £11.99

All the President’s Men

Robert B. Ray and Christian

Keathley

4th May 2023

Paperback | 120 pages 9781839024047 | £11.99

Eraserhead

Claire Henry

4th May 2023

Paperback | 104 pages 9781839025600 | £11.99

33 1/3

33 1/3  is a series of short books about popular music, focusing on individual albums by artists ranging from James Brown to Celine Dion and from J Dilla to Neutral Milk Hotel.

“A brilliant series … each one a work of real love.”

– NME

“Ideal

– Rolling Stone

Babes in Toyland’s Fontanelle

Selena Chambers

9th February 2023

Paperback | 160 pages 9781501377556 | £9.99

ESG’s Come Away with ESG

Cheri Percy

9th March 2023

Paperback | 144 pages 9781501379192 | £9.99

“For those of you who really like to know everything there is to know about an album, you’d do well to check out Bloomsbury’s “33 1/3” series of books.”

– Pitchfork

Madvillain’s Madvillainy

Will Hagle

9th March 2023

Paperback | 152 pages 9781501389238 | £9.99

Living Colour’s Time's Up

Kimberly Mack

4th May 2023

Paperback | 152 pages 9781501377518 | £9.99

The BBC’s BBC Radiophonic Workshop

William Weir

4th May 2023

Paperback | 160 pages 9781501389153 | £9.99

for the rock geek who thinks liner notes just aren’t enough.”

Genre

Genre: A 33 1/3 Series is a series of short books that guide you through the musical subgenres that have intrigued, perplexed, or provoked you.

Dance Punk

Larissa Wodtke

Guides readers through dance-punk, a sub-genre of postpunk, drawing from the historical and cultural conditions surrounding the genre in the 1970s and early 1980s, and then again in the early 2000s.

Larissa Wodtke is Coordinator for the Indigenous Academic Lead and member of the Centre for Research in Cultural Studies at the University of Winnipeg, Canada.

6th April 2023

192 pages | Paperback 9781501381867 | £14.99

4th May 2023

192 pages | Paperback 9781501383427 | £14.99

South African Popular Music

Lior Phillips

Demonstrates the split personalities of South African popular music, and how it spread around the world and yet retained a full suite of unique and original languages, both literally and figuratively.

Lior Phillips is a South African music and culture journalist.

New in Paperback

9th February 2023 | 288 pages

Paperback 9781350344730 | £14.99 ePub 9781838601065 | £27 ePDF 9781838601072 | £27

The Spark that Lit the Revolution

Lenin in London and the Politics that Changed the World  Robert Henderson  Vladimir Ilyich Lenin visited London on six occasions at the beginning of the 20th century and it was in this city, where Marx wrote Das Kapital, that the roots of Lenin's political thought took shape. This book, from a former curator of the Russian collections at the British Library, tells the story for the first time of Lenin's intriguing relationship with the enigmatic Apollinariya Yakubova – a revolutionary known to her comrades as the 'primeval force of the Black Earth'.

“Henderson has woven his narrative out of a brilliant miscellany of archival sources, with crucial finds in the Hoover Institution's records of the Okhrana, or political police.”

– Times Literary Supplement

“Henderson’s revelatory book captures the atmosphere of a time of Jewish idealism preceding that of the horrors of the Gulag.”

– The Jewish Chronicle

“Excellent.” – Socialist History

Based on a series of stunning new archival discoveries from the British Library, published here for the first time, as well as photographs and details of the Russian revolutionaries (and indeed international police spies) who congregated in the East End of London - known then as the 'Little Russian Island', this is the first full exploration of the formation of one of the leading political visionaries of his age. Revealing Lenin's Londonbased accomplices and political rivals, and shedding new light on his world-view – one which would have such a crucial impact on the 20th century, this is an essential addition to our knowledge of Lenin the man and of the roots of the Russian revolution.

Robert Henderson is former Head of the Russian Archive at the British Library. He is author of numerous journal articles and book chapters in the field of Russian History and Honorary Research Associate at Queen Mary, University of London, UK.

The Shadow in the East

Vladimir Putin and the New Baltic Front

Aliide Naylor

The Baltics are vital democracies in NorthEastern Europe, but with a ‘belligerent’ Vladimir Putin to their east - waging war on Ukraine - and ‘expansionist’ NATO to their west, these NATO members have increasingly been the subject of unsettling headlines in both Western and Russian media. What does this mean for those living in the Baltics - and for the world?

Based on her extensive research and work as a journalist, Aliide Naylor takes us inside the geopolitics of the region. Travelling to the heart of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania she explores modernity in the region, investigates smuggling and troop movements in the borderlands, and explains the countries' unique cultural identities. Naylor tells us why the Baltics matter, more so than ever before, and how the region has inched to the forefront of the frontline in the political struggle between East and West. The Shadow in the East is critical to understanding the long running tensions between Russia and Europe.

Aliide Naylor is a freelance journalist focusing on Russia and Eastern Europe. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, New Statesman, POLITICO Europe, openDemocracy, New Eastern Europe and Vocativ, among others. Naylor has travelled to all corners of the Baltic states and has also lived in both St. Petersburg and Moscow, where she served as Arts Editor at The Moscow Times.

9th February 2023 | 256 pages

Paperback 9781350352896 | £12.99 ePub 9781786726384 | £22.50 ePDF 9781786736444 | £22.50

“In this riveting debut, Naylor combines lyrical personal observations with insightful political analysis to offer a timely and comprehensive picture of the complex societies, economies, and political landscapes of this frequently overlooked region.”

–The Moscow Times

6th April 2023 | 264 pages

Paperback | 9781786999702 | £12.99

ePub 9781786999665 | £18 ePDF 9781786999689 | £18

Speak Not

Empire, Identity and the Politics of Language

James Griffiths

As globalisation continues languages are disappearing faster than ever, leaving our planet’s linguistic diversity leaping towards extinction. The science of how languages are acquired is becoming more advanced and the internet is bringing us new ways of teaching the next generation, however it is increasingly challenging for minority languages to survive in the face of a handful of hegemonic ‘super-tongues’.

“A welcome addition to critiques of empire and studies of language and politics.” – Globe and Mail

“An astute, well-researched, and often scholarly meditation on the forces that drive marginal languages out of existence in favor of dominant metropolitan tongues.” – LA Review of Books

“Griffiths is spot on: the survival of many languages—and perhaps the identities that go with them— depends on politics.”

– Asian Review of Books

In Speak Not, James Griffiths reports from the frontlines of the battle to preserve minority languages, from his native Wales, Hawaii and indigenous American nations, to southern China and Hong Kong. He explores the revival of the Welsh language as a blueprint for how to ensure new generations are not robbed of their linguistic heritage, outlines how loss of indigenous languages is the direct result of colonialism and globalisation and examines how technology is both hindering and aiding the fight to prevent linguistic extinction.

Introducing readers to compelling characters and examining how indigenous communities are fighting for their languages, Griffiths ultimately explores how languages hang on, what happens when they don’t, and how indigenous tongues can be preserved and brought back from the brink.

James Griffiths is Asia Correspondent at the Globe and Mail. He was previously a senior producer at CNN International, where he reported on the ground from Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. He is the author of The Great Firewall of China (2021).

Sensuous Knowledge

A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone

Minna Salami

Combining the playfulness of a storyteller with the insight of a social critic, Sensuous Knowledge pries apart the systems of power and privilege that have dominated ways of thinking for centuries –and which have led to so much division, prejudice and damage. And it puts forward a new, sensuous, approach to knowledge: one grounded in a host of global perspectives – from Black Feminism to personal narrative, pop culture to high art, Western philosophy to African mythology – together comprising a vision of hope for a fragmented world riven by crisis.

Through the prism of this new knowledge, Salami offers fresh insights into the key cultural issues that affect women’s lives. How are we to view Sisterhood, Motherhood or even Womanhood itself? What is Power and why do we conceive of Beauty? How does one achieve Liberation? She asks women to break free of the prison made by ingrained male-centric biases, and build a house themselves – a home that can nurture us all.

Sensuous Knowledge confirms Minna Salami as one the most important spokespeople of today, and the arrival of a blistering new literary voice.

Minna Salami is a blogger, social critic, and lecturer. She is the founder of the multiple award-winning blog MsAfropolitan, and her work is published in numerous publications. Minna is listed as one of 12 women changing the world by ELLE Magazine. She lives in London and regularly visits the United States.

4th May 2023 | 216 pages Paperback | 9781786997111 | £9.99 ePub 9781786995285 | £13.49 ePDF 9781786995278 | £13.49

“A probing, challenging and imaginative book that dares position black feminism as the prism through which we can all better experience and understand the world. I read it slowly, savouring it as intellectual soul food, while relishing the richness of Minna Salami’s ideas and the persuasiveness of her writing ... An important addition to the feminist canon.”

– Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other