Windrush 75
We compiled this list in 2023 to mark the 75th anniversary of Windrush and celebrate the impact of Caribbean culture on British life.
Windrush: A Ship Through Time
Paul Arnott
A gripping exploration of the Empire Windrush, from its German origins to its pivotal role in shaping modern Britain.
Coming to England: An Inspiring True Story Celebrating the Windrush Generation
Floella Benjamin
A picture book edition of 'Coming to England', the inspiring true story of Dame Floella Benjamin: from Trinidad, to London as part of the Windrush generation, to the House of Lords. Follow ten-year-old Floella as she and her family set sail from the Caribbean to a new life in London. Alone on a huge ship for two weeks, then tumbled into a cold and unfriendly London, coming to England wasn't at all what Floella had expected. What will her new school be like? Will she meet the Queen?
Surge
Jay Bernard
Jay Bernard's powerful debut is a queer exploration of the black British archive, tracing a line between two significant events in recent British history: the New Cross Massacre of 1981 in which thirteen young black people were killed in a house fire - and the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. The collection stems from research undertaken about the New Cross Fire during a 2016 residency at the George Padmore Institute.
Windrush Songs
James Berry
'Windrush Songs' explores the different reasons James and his fellow travellers had for leaving the Caribbean. The poems look back on slavery and individual experiences of hardship and trying to make a living.
War to Windrush: Black Women in Britain 1939 to 1948
Stephen Bourne
This book shows first-hand what life was like in Britain for black women through photography and evocative prose. War to Windrush retraces the history of those women who helped to build the great, multicultural Britain we know today. It is a celebration of multiculturalism and immigration, much needed in today's political climate.
To Sir With Love
ER Braithwaite
This is the story of a dedicated school teacher who turns hate into love, teenage rebelliousness into self-respect and contempt into consideration for others. It is the story of a man’s own integrity winning through against all the odds.
Mother Country: Real Stories of the Windrush Children
Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff
Britain was known as the Mother Country: a home away from home; a place that you would be welcomed with open arms; a land where you were free to build a new life. Seventy years on, this remarkable book explores the reality of the Windrush experience. It is an honest, eye-opening, funny, moving and ultimately inspiring celebration of the lives of both ordinary and extraordinary people.
The Story of the Windrush
KN Chimbiri
In June 1948, hundreds of Caribbean men, women and children arrived in London on a ship called the HMT Empire Windrush. Although there were already Black people living in Britain at the time, this event marks the beginning of modern Black Britain. Combining historical fact with voices from the Windrush Generation, this book sensitively tells the inspiring story of the Windrush Generation pioneers for younger readers.
Mr Loverman
Bernadine Evaristo
Barrington Jedidiah Walker is 74 and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he’s lived in Hackney, London, for years. A flamboyant character with a fondness for William Shakespeare, Barrington is a husband, father, grandfather – and also secretly gay. With an abundance of laugh-out-loud humor and wit, Mr. Loverman explodes cultural myths and shows the extent of what can happen when people fear the consequences of being true to themselves.
Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings: A Windrush Story
Tony Fairweather
From the docks in the Caribbean to Tilbury docks in the UK, those two weeks on a boat is just another chapter in the untold stories of a Windrush generation.
The Windrush Betrayal: Exposing the Hostile Environment
Amelia Gentleman
Paulette Wilson had always assumed she was British. She had spent most of her life in London working as a cook; she even worked in the House of Commons’ canteen. How could someone who had lived in England since being a primary school pupil suddenly be classified as an illegal immigrant? Through Amelia Gentleman’s tenacious investigative and campaigning journalism it emerged that thousands were in Paulette’s position. What united them was that they had all arrived in the UK from the Commonwealth as children in the 1950s and 1960s. Gentleman tells the story of the scandal and exposes deeply disturbing truths about modern Britain.
Familiar Stranger: A Life Between Two Islands
Stuart Hall
Stuart Hall grew up in a middle-class family in 1930s Jamaica, still then a British colony. He found himself caught between two worlds: the stiflingly respectable middle class in Kingston, who, in their habits and ambitions, measured themselves against the white planter elite; and working-class and peasant Jamaica, neglected and grindingly poor, though rich in culture, music and history. But as colonial rule was challenged, things began to change in Kingston and across the world. When, in 1951, a scholarship took him across the Atlantic to Oxford University, Hall encountered other Caribbean writers and thinkers, from Sam Selvon and George Lamming to VS Naipaul. He also forged friendships with the likes of Raymond Williams and EP Thompson, with whom he worked in the formidable political movement, the New Left.
Growing Out: Black Hair and Black Pride in the Swinging Sixties
Barbara Blake Hannah
Travelling over from Jamaica as a teenager, Barbara’s journey is remarkable. She finds her footing in TV, and blossoms. But with the responsibility of being the first Black woman reporting on TV comes an enormous amount of pressure, and a flood of hateful letters and complaints from viewers that eventually costs her the job. In the aftermath of this fallout, she goes through a period of self-discovery that allows her to carve out a new space for herself first in the UK and then back home in Jamaica – one that allows her to embrace and celebrate her black identity, rather than feeling suffocated in her attempts to emulate whiteness and conform to the culture around her.
This Lovely City
Louise Hare
The drinks are flowing. The music is playing. But the party can’t last. With the Blitz over and London reeling from war, jazz musician Lawrie Matthews has answered England’s call for help. Fresh off the Empire Windrush, he’s taken a tiny room in south London lodgings, and has fallen in love with the girl next door. Touring Soho’s music halls by night, pacing the streets as a postman by day, Lawrie has poured his heart into his new home – and it’s alive with possibility. Until, one morning, he makes a terrible discovery. As the local community rallies, fingers of blame are pointed at those who had recently been welcomed with open arms. And, before long, the newest arrivals become the prime suspects in a tragedy which threatens to tear the city apart.
A Circle of Five
Harris Joshua
A compilation of stories from five women of the Windrush generation. Transcribed from interviews, the book takes us through the memories, trials and tribulations of these women, charting their genesis in the Caribbean all the way to their new lives in the United Kingdom.
The Pleasures of Exile
George Lamming
The Pleasures of Exile, originally published in 1960, is a classic of Caribbean diaspora writing. George Lamming is one of the major figures in late 20th century literature: his novels were part of the social, cultural, and political revolution of modern black writing.
Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush
Patrice Lawrence
One day, Ava is asked to dress as an inspirational figure for assembly at school, but who should she choose? Granny suggests famous familiar figures such as Winifred Atwell, Mary Seacole and Rosa Parks, and tells Ava all about their fascinating histories, but Ava's classmates have got there first - and she must choose someone else. But who? Granny shares her own history, and how she came to England on the Empire Windrush many years ago. She tells her story through the precious items that accompanied her on the original voyage, each one evoking a memory of home, and as Ava listens to how Granny built a life for herself in England, she realises that there is a hero very close to home that she wants to celebrate – her very own brave and beloved granny.
Small Island
Andrea Levy
Returning to England after the war Gilbert Joseph is treated very differently now that he is no longer in an RAF uniform. Joined by his wife Hortense, he rekindles a friendship with Queenie who takes in Jamaican lodgers. Can their dreams of a better life in England overcome the prejudice they face?
Voices of the Windrush Generation
David Matthews
With over 20 first-hand accounts from men, women, and children of Windrush, this work sheds light on the true impact of one of the most disastrous and damaging scandals in recent memory, and gives a platform to those most affected – those whose voices have yet to be truly heard. Their stories provide intimate, personal and moving perspective on what it means to be black in Britain today, and the heartache the ‘hostile environment policy’ our government has created has meant for those who have called this country home for half a century and more.
There Is an Anger that Moves
Kei Miller
There is an Anger that Moves announces the arrival of Kei Miller, an exciting new voice in Caribbean poetry.
We’re Here Because You Were There: Immigration and the End of Empire
Ian Sanjay Patel
What are the origins of the hostile environment for immigrants in Britain? Drawing on new archival material from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ian Sanjay Patel retells Britain’s recent history in an often shocking account of state racism that still resonates today.
Windrush: The irresistible rise of Multi-Racial Britain
Mike Phillips & Trevor Phillips
Broadcaster Trevor Phillips and his novelist brother Mike retell the story of Britain’s first West Indian immigrants and their descendants from 1948 to the present day. Originally published 50 years later, this seminal book used the first-person accounts of those on the boat – as well as those of their descendants, friends, neighbours and politicians – to tell the story of Black British life in the 20th century.
The Lonely Londoners
Sam Selvon
From the brilliant, sharp, witty pen of Sam Selvon, this is a classic award-winning novel of immigrant life in London in the 1950s.
Windrush Child
Benjamin Zephaniah
The Windrush generation are named after one of the first ships that arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1948. In this heart-stopping adventure based on real historical events, Benjamin Zephaniah shows us what it was like being a child of the Windrush generation, an important and intriguing time in Britain that’s sure to fascinate young readers.