In 2018 Avril Nanton and Jody Burton decided to write a book that would change the image of black history in London. Avril, a tour guide, and Jody, a Librarian, decided to write about the many things in London that represent Black Londoners. The book was finally released in June 2021 and since then sales have rocketed and the book is a best seller.

Black London: History, Art & Culture In Over 120 Places, became the first guide book specifically focusing on London’s Black population. This book is a guide with a difference. It explores, records and focuses on Black people’s contribution to both local and global history as well as Black art and culture. It recognises the people, places and stories that are often overlooked and are still missing from mainstream guide-books.

With the recent 2018 Windrush scandal where Black people who arrived in the UK between 1940-70 being informed that they had to return to the country of their birth because they were deemed to be illegal in the UK, this book points out the hypocrisy of that event when the HMS Empire Windrush brought many here to help the British economy in 1948. The book highlights not only the people who arrived on the Windrush but the history of the ship itself.

The event is an online event via Zoom.