For generations, Black British women and their contributions to literature have been limited by exceptionalism and conformity.
Our stories have been policed by palatability politics, and those who made it past the publishing gate did so with caution, aware that at every turn, they might have to over-explain their work and defend their narratives as adding value to a largely white middle-class market. Recent years have seen things start to shift, most notably in 2020, when Bernardine Evaristo and Reni Eddo-Lodge simultaneously became the first Black British women to top British book charts in both fiction and non-fiction.
Since then, Black British women have been a staple on bestseller charts, from Bolu Babalola’s Love in Colour anthology to the Receipts podcast members’ joint memoir, Keep the Receipts. We’ve seen the hunger readers have for the authentic and unapologetic storytelling of Black British literary babes, and it feels like a turning point in the UK’s literary landscape.
These authors are directly challenging stale ideals of what a successful novelist looks like, proving that talent and success in writing are not mutually exclusive with whiteness and pre-existing wealth. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of Black British women making waves in the literary space, but it’s never too early to give a trailblazer their flowers, so join us in celebrating the following authors:
Jade LB
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Aged just 13, Jade LB authored the viral internet sensation, Keisha the Sket. Originally published on (now vintage) social platform, Piczo, Keisha the Sket is a coming-of-age epic that can only be described as the Black British answer to Angus Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging. The prose is written almost entirely in noughties text speak, chronicling the misadventures of Keisha, a relatable protagonist navigating sex, romance and misogynoir with a boldness enviable to any teenage girl, while suffering the shame, pain and cringe-worthy consequences that many sexually assertive young women are familiar with.
Despite the popularity of Keisha the Sket at the time, teenage Jade found herself wanting distance from the story. She didn’t imagine herself as an author and was (in her own words) “completely disassociated from [her] ability to write and interest in writing.” She says the lack of visibility of in the literary industry added to the already established under-representation of Black writers and meant that she “didn’t even know if it was viable” as a career choice. That, alongside embarrassment she felt about the salacious subject matter in her book encouraged Jade to leave Keisha at the back of her mind.
Fast-forward 13 years (and some therapy) later, Jade was much more comfortable with the story she’d created when she was approached by Merky Books to publish Keisha the Sket as a novel. She says she now knows that “Keisha was a manifestation of [her] fears and dreams,” that the popularity and timelessness of Keisha’s story speaks to the specificity of its cultural references and the nostalgia they inspire and she hopes that everyone who reads the novel emerges with a greater understanding of “how damaging shame can be… how it can rally ravage relationships and self-perception.”
Bolu Babalola
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Romance writer and cultural connoisseur Bolu Babalola is all about making love accessible to Black women and any one else who doesn’t fit the rigid bill of the bashful rom-com sweetheart that we’ve seen reproduced on screen and on the page a countless number of times. Her debut short story collection, Love in Colour earned a spot on the Sunday Times Best Seller list as well as rave reviews from many literary giants, including Bolu’s own literary inspiration Meg Cabot, who called the author a “star.”
Bolu also draws inspiration from work of Toni Morrison and says that her truthfulness and sharp world-building empowers her to “tell the stories on [her] heart with no constriction for [her] people… to be specific, to not fear alienation but to focus on the truth and trust that those who need to hear will hear.” Though she trained as a lawyer, Bolu says she’s always been a storyteller “since [she] was small” and if Love in Colour wasn’t convincing enough her debut novel, Honey & Spice, showed the world that this truly is her calling.
The novel employs Bolu’s favourite romance trope, the friends to lovers storyline, injecting new life into an age-old classic through refreshingly authentic protagonists, Kiki and Malakai and the evocative and dynamic world the author builds around them. This is no doubt, the beginning of an iconic career for Bolu, who wants her stories to elicit hope and the idea that “Love is worthy of our minds and time as well as our hearts.”
Jendella Benson
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Jendella Benson is a journalist and author who prioritises and uplifts Black womanhood in all that she does. Her debut novel, Hope and Glory is a family drama exploring grief, love, friendship and redemption through the lens of the young female protagonist, Glory. It brings to the fore Jendella’s Nigerian roots and affinity for Peckham, (the place where she spent much of her adolescence) and has been hailed by Slay in Your Lane author Yomi Adegoke as effortlessly written, with “characters that leap off the page” and a storyline that is so “deliciously South London.”
Jendella loves “strong-willed Black girl characters who can come across a little rude, a little facety but have this kind of self possession that challenges the older people in their lives.” and has been trying “insert [herself] in adventures” through storytelling for as long as she can remember. She builds characters who embody the complexity and contradictory nature of the human condition because she believes that “messiness and flaws” allow us to better relate to one another. Jendella wants to create narratives that inspire empathy and compassion for “the people in [our] lives that can be easily taken for granted… for ourselves and for others.” something in which she succeeds and surpasses with Hope and Glory. We trust that her next novel (which she’s hinted she’s working on) will be just as powerful.
Also on GLAMOUR’s Black British reading list:
Aminatta Forna
