Angola 3 Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and  Robert King, have spent almost a century between them in solitary confinement in  Angola, the Louisiana State  Penitentiary. Herman and Albert are still held in solitary confinement today  after thirty eight years.  How could this be? In America…In Obama’s America? The film will be followed by a discussion [...]

An anthology of writings from Hackney residents is in the making and will be published in July 2011. The organizers are looking for original and differing perspectives from people who live in the borough, with a focus on airing the voices of those involved in the various subcultures and communities that are unrepresented in fiction [...]

Stoke Newington resident and first time author Jonathan Kemp, will be reading from his recently published London Triptych, which we reviewed this summer. London Triptych is an intriguing look at the homosexual experience through the prism of male prostitution over the past 100 years. Episodic in structure, it flits between the lives of three men [...]

Saturday 23rd October Poetry Performance Workshop for Kids at Chats Palace The Bookbox has teamed up with poetry performance organisation Apples & Snakes and Chats Palace for a half term poetry performance workshop The event will be taking place in the newly re-opened Chats Palace and will offer kids the opportunity to work with young [...]

Voices of the Black Diaspora 2010 Europe’s largest Black literature festival and book fair returns on 15th – 17th October and will be hosted by Centerprise Book Store in Dalston. A celebration of Black voices,  come together at Hackneys oldest book-store and Black community and arts centre, bringing together authors, artists and readers for discussions, [...]

The Shoreditch Tales uncover the stories of Shoreditch, Hoxton and Haggerston- their inhabitants and histories. Living memories and historical documents are used to tell the tales of everyday life in Shoreditch from the 1930s to the 1980s. More than forty local people contributed to The Shoreditch Tales and it contains over 100 photos and illustrations, [...]

As part of Black History Month, Grenadian born Jacob Ross will be reading from his debut novel Pynter Bender. Families have their own histories and superstitions. They carry tales, experiences, and memories through the generations. When Pynter Bender is born fully two days after his twin brother Peter, he is temporarily blinded by a caul [...]

If like me, you missed this bad boy and bad bad girl turned good, at the much acclaimed Stoke Newington Literary Festival in June, here is another chance to see both authors read from their latest offerings, at Stoke Newington Library Gallery. Farah reads from her raw and no holes barred autobiography, Try Me. Her  [...]

Mike Marqusee talks about his book,  If I Am Not For Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jewat. Mike Marqusee’s book presents an account of the life of E V Morand, his Jewish-Irish grandfather, in inter-war New York. The book recounts Morand’s radical journey through religion and politics, his struggles with anti-Semitism and the twists and [...]

EXCLUSIVE – Author, Shaun Attwood will be at Stoke Newington Literary Festival The man from Cheshire US authorities say was bigger than mafia honcho and hitman, Sammy ‘the Bull’ Gravano I’ve been meaning to catch up with Shaun Attwood for a while.  Logistics,  commitments and a last minute miscommunication meant we had to make do [...]