Negritude Learn to Debate

The second of our debate programmes, Negritude is new for 2019/2020 and is one of our most ambitious projects to date.

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The second of our debate programmes, Negritude is new for 2019/2020 and is one of our most ambitious projects to date. In the 1930s and 1940s, the artistic achievements of black writers in Paris propelled black thought, literature, and cultural identity into the forefront of the European intellectual and literary scene. We call this movement Negritude, and its champions used their works as a way to explore the African diaspora’s cultural, economic, social and political values as a whole.

The Opal22 Arts and Edutainment Negritude programme will be a yearly programme designed to get young people interested in debate, literary analysis and interpretation, and the importance of understanding and integrating the views of people from different cultural backgrounds. Participants will have the chance to take part in online conferences with leading experts in the field as well as meet famous authors such as Patrice Lawrence, Catherine Johnson, Alex Wheatle, Bali Rai, Courtia Newland, and others. Leicester’s Central Library will again play host to the debate series.

Alongside this, we will be running an Online Book Club (£5 pm) with books vouchers going out every three months, weekly online workshops, links to Google Classrooms and Meets, and a moderated space for participants to post their feedback and updates.

Join the online book club

How does it work?

The weekly workshops are currently taking place online using Google Classrooms and Google Meets.

What does it include?

Starter pack
Free books every 3 months
Weekly online workshops
A place for young people to upload feedback
A chance to take part in online conferences with leading experts in the field as well as meet famous authors

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Negritude

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Meet The Authors

Courtia Newland

Courtia Newland is a novelist and playwright, born in 1973 in London to parents of West Indian heritage. After initially working in music, Newland published his first novel, The Scholar, in 1997.

Bali Rai

Bali Rai is an English author of children’s and young adult fiction.

Alex Wheatle

Alex Wheatle is the author of several novels, some of them set in Brixton, where he grew up. Born in London of Jamaican parents, his first book, Brixton Rock (1999), tells the story of a 16-year old boy of mixed race, in 1980s Brixton. Brixton Rock was adapted for the stage and performed at the Young Vic in 2010.

Catherine Johnson

Catherine Johnson FRSL is a British author and screenwriter. She has written several young adult novels and co-wrote the screenplay for the 2004 drama film Bullet Boy.

Patrice Lawrence

Patrice Lawrence is a British writer and journalist, who has published fiction both for adults and children. Her writing has won awards including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Children and The Bookseller YA Book Prize.

Negritude – Leicester Central Library

Live Debate nights. Bringing Black Authors from across the world to life, getting both the young and the older involved in positive conversation relating to prominent, but often under-appreciated authors in this country.

Funded By Arts Council Small Green Shoots