Black British Book Festival, Manchester, 29 March 2025

I was invited to speak at the Black British Book Festival in Manchester to speak on Unveiling History : Writing stories of courage and legacy at the Manchester Central Library. Fantastic building and a great city.

The weather was a bit cold up north but the friendliness and hospitality was great. While we were taking pictures we bumped into a passer-by and he smiled and apologised and smiled. Eh... I knew I wasnt in London lol! The response we would have got wouldn't have been printable.

For the talk I spoke about how growing up in the UK in the 70s with my foster parents who were from the ww2 generation and going to live in Nigeria through the oil boom into the structural adjustment programme days of military rule in the the 90s had given me all the material I needed for my historical fiction - A Nurse's Tale.

It was basically life seen through the two sets of parents I had - two young Nigerian students who had come 'over here' for education full of hope to go back to Nigeria and English foster parents who had survived the bombing of London and the home counties and made a life for the family and opened their home and hearts to me and my siblings.

It was around 11 on a Saturday and the audience were engaged and full of questions. Looking forward to going to Manchester again for more sight seeing and checking out the arc décor library and its selection of books.