About this Event
Join writer and former reggae columnist Derek A. Bardowell for an evening celebrating Fire Inna Dancehall, his exhilarating new history of the people, places and politics behind one of the most influential cultural movements of the past half-century.
Born in inner-city Kingston and carried through migration to the council estates of London, the block parties of New York and underground scenes across Panama and Puerto Rico, dancehall became far more than a sound. Its influence can be heard in hip-hop, grime and contemporary pop, but its story is also one of identity and self-determination: a culture created by people determined to be seen and heard on their own terms. Blending social history with journalistic insight, Bardowell explores the music alongside the world that produced it, examining how dancehall became a vehicle for thinking about migration, masculinity, faith, and Black identity.
Derek A Bardowell is a writer, philanthropy strategist and executive coach. His first book, the sports memoir No Win Race, was a Sunday Times and Financial Times Book of the Year. His follow-up book, Giving Back: How To Do Good, Better, reimagines philanthropy through a reparative lens. Hiw work has appeared in The Guardian, The Times, and British GQ.
Irenosen Okojie is a Nigerian British author. Her novel, Butterfly Fish, and short story collections, Speak Gigantular and Nudibranch, have won and been nominated for multiple awards. She won the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for her short story "Grace Jones’" Her journalism has been featured in the New York Times, The Observer, and The Guardian. She is a Contributing Editor at And Other Stories. She co-presented the BBC’s Novels That Shaped Our World podcast ‘Turn Up for The Books’ alongside Simon Savidge and Bastille frontman, Dan Smith. She is the director and founder of Black to the Future festival.
Event venue & nearby stays
Second Home Spitalfields, 68 Hanbury Street, London, United Kingdom
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.