Black History Month - Author Derek Owusu -15 October 2019
Derek is the co-author and editor of Safe – a collection of essays about black men’s experiences of being black in Britain, but he is also a poet has also been the host of a hit podcast called ‘Mostly Lit,’ as well as the producer of the podcast ‘This is Spoke.’ He only discovered his passion for literature at age 23 and before then had never read a whole book. His university degree was nothing to do with literature but he was so eager to learn that he snuck into literature lectures.
Some of Derek’s work to date includes:
That Reminds Me is a novel-in-verse which charts the life of its young protagonist from birth to adulthood, and explores questions of identity, belonging, addiction, sexuality, violence, family and religion. It is also an interrogation of the events that led to the author’s own mental breakdown. “It is a deeply moving and completely original work of literature, and a book that is already receiving critical acclaim from early readers such as Christie Watson, Benjamin Zephaniah, Guy Gunaratne and Yrsa Daley-Ward,” the publisher said.
Teaching My Brother to Read is a year-long project undertaken by the author in order to find a way to connect to his younger brother. Owusu said his brother “was getting into an increasing amount of trouble and rapidly losing interest in his own life”. The publisher said: “Each month, Derek decided, he would give his brother a book (fiction, non-fiction or poetry), and pay him £50 to read it. At the end of the month, they would meet and talk about the book – its content, what it said to them both, and what lessons (if any) it offered." #Merky Books said the result is "a groundbreaking work of non-fiction, and a unique celebration of the transformative power of literature".
Resilience
Derek has had mental health and self harming battles. He also talked about his own experience of growing up in the care system. It is testament t his resilient character that he has become a very successful writer, author, poet and podcaster.
Victoria is the founder and facilitator of The LOC (Love of Culture) Book and Social Club and guest podcaster and member of Dope Black Women has also come in to interview Derek. She started out as a youth worker, moving into management roles and youth advocacy. She saw that there was a need to explore and promote the vast amount of black art and literature, often ignored in the main stream and has established the LOC club to provide a platform for up and coming artists, authors and performers as well as putting on events with those already established in their field. As one of her roles in the LOC club is to interview authors and writers it seemed appropriate that she lead the Q&A session.
Thankyou so much to Victoria and Derek for coming in today.