About this Event
Join authors Sheela Banerjee, Preeti Dhillon and Lucy Fulford in conversation about their books What’s In A Name?, The Shoulders We Stand On and The Exiled, taking in empire, migration, politics and resistance.
In What's in a Name?, Sheela Banerjee unravels the personal histories of friends and family through their names. And while tracing their heritage across centuries and continents - from west London to British India, and from 1960s Jamaica to pre-Revolutionary Russia - Sheela also tells the story of twentieth-century immigration to the UK. Blending history, memoir and politics, What's in a Name? is a celebration of Britain's rich multiculturalism, an ode to friendship and a testament to all the stories held within our names.
The Shoulders We Stand On tells the stories of ten remarkable movements, campaigns and organisations led by Black and Brown people across Britain from the sixties to the eighties that fought against racism and capitalism, including the British Black Panthers, the Grunwick Strike and the uprisings of 1981. Their stories can inspire all of us to make a difference, just as they did. The Shoulders We Stand On is a book of hope. Hope that together we can make a difference, that together we are powerful, and that we don’t have to tackle society’s challenges alone. This is the book we all need now.
Uganda, August 1972. President Idi Amin makes a shocking pronouncement - the country's South Asian population is being expelled. They have ninety days to leave. Fifty years on, The Exiled draws on first-hand interviews and testimonies, including from Lucy Fulford’s family, to uncover what happened next. Journeying across continents and decades, this work of reportage illuminates an essential, and under-explored, chapter in post-colonial history, challenging politically expedient narratives to uncover the true fate of minorities at the end of empire.
Sheela Banerjee is a writer, journalist and academic and her work has been published in The Guardian, Observer, Metro and Grazia. Her debut book, What’s In A Name? was published by Sceptre/Hodder, and is a New Statesman Book of the Year, and won the Eastern Eye Arts and Culture Award for Non-Fiction, 2024.
Preeti Dhillon is a researcher, writer and historian. She is passionate about capturing hidden stories from oppressed and marginalised communities. Her debut book The Shoulders We Stand On: How Black and Brown People Fought for Change in the United Kingdom was published by Dialogue Books.
Lucy Fulford is a journalist and author who focuses on migration and identity, often through the lens of conflict and trauma. Her debut book, The Exiled: Empire, Immigration and the Ugandan Asian Exodus (Coronet/Hodder 2023) explores the ramifications of this landmark, unexplored forced migration on the generations which followed.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Waterstones, 82 Gower Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 7.00 to GBP 10.00
