About this Event
Soon Come: Kuba Shand-Baptiste in Conversation
In one tiny Caribbean restaurant, three friends try to build a future in a country that refuses to see them.
Judith came to Britain believing that hard work and respectability would keep her safe. Now a nurse, she keeps her head down and sends money home, quietly hoping her sacrifices will mean something. Mikey is angry, restless and unafraid to speak truth to power - whether through protest or paint. And Frank? Frank's just trying to find joy wherever he can, even if everything around him is falling apart. Their worlds collide in a small Caribbean restaurant in North West London, where the smell of Scotch bonnet drifts out the windows and life-altering decisions are made between shifts and shared meals.
Across the decades, as new generations make their way in a city that changes around them, what remains is community, memory and the pulse of something unbreakable. Soon Come is a rich, moving debut about migration, friendship, and the spaces we create when the world gives us none.
Soon Come is a rich, moving debut novel about migration, friendship and the spaces we create when the world gives us none.
Your ticket also includes an Exclusive Evening Viewing of Dr Johnson's House museum along with a welcome drink.
Kuba Shand-Baptiste will also sign your copy of Soon Come
Copies available in the museum Gift Shop
Doors open & welcome drink 6pm
Talk starts 6.30pm.
Event ends 8pm.
Please note, we have limited capacity and early booking is recommended.
Kuba Shand-Baptiste
Kuba Shand-Baptiste is an award-winning journalist whose work is interested in identity, human connection and social justice. Her writing examines motives with nuance and offers neglected perspectives. She draws on experiences growing up in North-West London as a British-Caribbean person. Kuba’s work - including essays, features and poetry - has been featured in numerous publications, earning widespread acclaim. She is an engaging public speaker who has participated in panel discussions, lectures, radio shows and podcasts.
Praise for Soon Come
‘Sparkling… A beautiful celebration of the everyday defiance and quiet dreams of London's Caribbean community, and what it means to belong.’
Service95
‘Combined my favourite things, art and Caribbean food, with characters that I could have spent a lifetime with. When I finished, I wanted more.’
Nathan Bryon, screenwriter of Rye Lane
‘The reader is in safe hands with this writer... It's as if she has opened an old family photo album and diligently detailed the backstories behind each portrait… She is a humanist storyteller, an authoritative author.’
Hugh Quarshie
‘A transporting and lyrical work that beautifully tells the often-erased stories of Black Britain's past and near-present. Heartfelt and deeply affecting, it's impossible not to fall for these nuanced, fully realised characters that will stick with you long after you've left the page. A triumph!’
Yomi Adegoke
‘I was blown away by the richness of the characters and their world. The journey that the story prepares the reader for drips with nostalgia and hope. A captivating work of art by one of Britain's most imaginative minds.’
Kelechi Okafor, author of Edge of Here
Accessibility: There is regrettably no step-free access to Dr Johnson's House. There are 7 steps to access the entrance (with a handrail). The building is a 4-storey townhouse with a staircase between each floor. There are handrails on each side of the staircase. The event takes place on the top floor. Toilets are located down a steep set of stairs.
Event venue & nearby stays
Dr Johnson's House, 17 Gough Square, London, United Kingdom
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.