What to Read, and Why
Literature and Memoir
- Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) — The foundational text. Available free at Project Gutenberg.
- Buchi Emecheta, Second Class Citizen (1974) — The essential account of the Nigerian woman's experience in 1960s London. Essential.
- Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood (1979) — The most significant Igbo-heritage novel about the colonial period written by a woman.
- Ben Okri, The Famished Road (1991) — Booker Prize winner. The defining work of British-Nigerian magical realism.
- Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other (2019) — Booker Prize winner. The defining work of 21st-century Black British literature.
- Bernardine Evaristo, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up (2021) — Memoir. The political dimensions of her literary project made explicit.
Academic and Historical Studies
- Hakim Adi, West Africans in Britain 1900-1960 (1998) — The standard academic history of the early Nigerian and West African presence in Britain.
- Remi Adekoya, Biracial Britain: A Different Way of Looking at Race (2021) — Nigerian-British journalist on mixed-race British identity and the Nigerian diaspora.
- Paul Gilroy, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack (1987) — The foundational academic account of race, ethnicity, and nation in Britain. Essential context.
- David Killingray (ed.), Africans in Britain (1994) — Essays on the history of African communities in Britain from the Tudor period onward.
Journalism and Contemporary Accounts
- Afua Hirsch, Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging (2018) — Memoir and cultural criticism by a British-Ghanaian journalist. The most widely read account of being Black and British.
- Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race (2017) — The most influential recent British book on structural racism. Essential context for the Nigerian-British experience.
Community Resources
- Ohanaeze Ndigbo UK — The apex Igbo organisation in Britain. Events, community news, and advocacy.
- NIDO (Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation) UK — Nigerian diaspora organisation with significant Igbo membership.
- The Voice newspaper — Britain's longest-running Black newspaper. Covers Nigerian and West African diaspora community issues.
Key Texts — Free Downloads
Free Digital Libraries
