The London Library has announced a new partnership for promoting Black British writing.

The London Library has announced a new partnership with Jacaranda Book’s Twentyin2020 initiative for promoting Black British writing.

Twentyin2020, launched by Jacaranda earlier this year, sees the UK publishing house exclusively dedicating a year of publishing output to 20 Black British writers, publishing new works from each of them during 2020. The project has won acclaim from across the publishing world and recently won the London Book Fair International Excellence Award 2019 for Inclusivity in Publishing.

Jacaranda has now teamed up with The London Library to announce a partnership that will provide a package of support for the 20 authors on the Twentyin2020 programme. The partnership was launched on 18th July at an evening event in the Library’s famous Reading Room, with industry leaders, influencers and press joining with the 2020 authors to celebrate this exciting new stage in the Twentyin2020 project.

The London Library will be providing the Twentyin2020 authors with two years’ free membership to the Library. The authors will have full access to our extraordinary collection of 1 million books, and extensive online resources, as well as use of the Library’s unparalleled spaces – which have been an inspiration for writers for nearly 200 years.

The Library will also be looking to incorporate the Twentyin2020 initiative into its popular events programme, providing a high profile platform for Twentyin2020 authors and ambassadors at speaker events.

Philip Marshall, Director of The London Library commented, “From the moment we heard about the Twentyin2020 project we knew this was an initiative we wanted to be involved in. The London Library is a centre for literary creativity and we are delighted to be supporting a programme that is doing so much to help black British writers get greater publishing recognition.”

During 2020, Jacaranda will publish the following books by the authors who are part of the Twentyin2020 project:
Fiction
  • The Long Way Home by DD Armstrong
  • Bad Love by Maame Blue
  • Looking for Bono by Abidemi Sanusi
  • If I Don’t Have You by Sareeta Domingo
  • The Street Hawker’s Apprentice by Kabir Kareem-Bello
  • Love Again by Rasheda Ashanti Malcolm
  • Deadly Sacrifice by Stella Ahmadu
  • Under Solomon Skies by Berni Sorga-Millwood
  • Dating in the 21st Century by Lisa Bent
  • Lote by Shola von Rheinhold
Non-fiction
  • Through the Leopard’s Gaze by Njambi McGrath
  • The Space Between Black and White by Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith
  • A Circle of Five by Harris Joshua
  • Are We Home Yet? by Kate Massey
  • Black History Walks by Tony Warner
Poetry
  • Locating Strong Woman by Tolu Agbelusi
  • Untitled by Hibaq Osman
  • Jamakspeare by Brenda Garrick
  • The First Collection by Sarah Lipton-Sidibeh
  • On Reflection by Adjoa Wiredu