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A new book celebrating great novels from around the world is challenging fiction lovers to expand their ideas about what should be considered the ‘classics’ of literature.

by Emerita Professor Joan Anim-Addo, Dr Deirdre Osborne and Kadija Sesay, is described as 鈥渁 vital and timely introduction to some of the best books I鈥檝e ever read鈥� by author and screenwriter Nikesh Shukla.

Published by Greenfinch, a non-fiction Quercus imprint, on 28 October 2021, This is the Canon has been designed for bibliophiles seeking a comprehensive must-read literature list 鈥� whether they are book club members or solitary readers, self-educators, students or teachers. 

It taps into the ongoing discussions of race, identity, and decolonisation taking place in Britain and around the world, presenting a guide to books that can educate and open up a broad range of perspectives, as well as novels from marginalised voices. 

The book celebrates the wide and diverse experiences of writers and their creations across the globe, seeking to disrupt white-dominated 鈥榬equired reading鈥� collections that have become the accepted norm. It encourages book buyers and borrowers from young teenage readers upwards to seek out literature beyond the 鈥榯raditional鈥� canon鈥檚 borders. 

From literary giants such as Toni Morrison and Chinua Achebe to equally vital writers such as Caribbean novelist Earl Lovelace or Indigenous Australian writer Alexis Wright, the novels selected and discussed within This is the Canon offer a multifaceted perspective on the past, present and future. 

Selected books also include the Egyptian writer and activist Nawal El Saadawi鈥檚 Woman at Point Zero; Half of a Yellow Sun by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Texaco by French author from Martinique Patrick Chamoiseau; Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories by Mexican-American Sandra Cisneros; and The White Girl by Indigenous Australian novelist Tony Birch. 

The power of great fiction, the authors of This is the Canon explain, is that readers have opportunities to explore new worlds and encounter a breadth of beliefs and opinions.

In the book鈥檚 introduction, they describe their selection of 50 novels as 鈥渦nquestioningly transnational in its outlook鈥� and 鈥渞esponsive to the multiple heritages that any one of the 50 writers might embrace鈥�.

Professor Joan Anim-Addo was appointed Director of the Centre for Caribbean and Diaspora Studies at 牛牛资源 in 1994 and is now Professor Emerita of Caribbean Literature and Culture. Her body of work ranges from histories of black Lewisham and Greenwich to poetry collections, literary histories of African-Caribbean women鈥檚 writing and a libretto, Imoinda.

Dr Deirdre Osborne is Reader in English Literature and Drama at 牛牛资源, and is Programme Convenor of the MA Black British Literature. She is Associate Editor of the scholarly journal Women鈥檚 Writing and edited The Cambridge Companion to British Black and Asian Literature (1945-2010) among other works. 

Kadija Sesay Hon FRSL is a writer and editor of several anthologies, founder of SABLE LitMag and AfritPoetree SIV and co-founder of The Mboka Festival in the Gambia. She was awarded the MBE for services to literature.

In 2015 Professor Anim-Addo and Dr Osborne introduced the world鈥檚 first MA in Black British Literature at 牛牛资源, a course described by journalists and authors as a 鈥渓andmark for black culture鈥� which 鈥渁dded to the fabric of British literature鈥�.

In 2017, after working with Dr Osborne and Kadija Sesay, school exam board EdExcel Pearson, became the first exam board to launch the A-level English Literature option Contemporary Black British Literature and for A-Level English Literature pupils and teachers. 

The EdExcel guide, written by Dr Osborne, presents a dozen black British texts for students to choose from for their free options as part of their course. , encouraging young readers to explore a 鈥渨ide and diverse range of literary voices dissolves the notion that there is a unique, singular experience of literary Britishness鈥�.

Earlier that year, The Royal Society of Literature had asked 2000 people to name 鈥榳riters of literature鈥� and  

during Black History Month and ahead of the launch of This is the Canon, its writers explained the intention of the book: their selection of 50 authors are not 鈥榬eplacing鈥� Shakespeare, Golding or Blake, but by presenting an 鈥榓lternative canon鈥� they are seeking to encourage readers of all ages to discover, read and support a more diverse range of brilliant creative work. 

Professor Joan Anim-Addo said: 鈥淭he canon, as most people understand it, is never going to be abandoned. This is a call-out to people to read more widely鈥� which will generate its own kind of enthusiasm for experimenting with reading so that one really begins to appreciate there is a richness out there we aren鈥檛 aware of.鈥� 

Joan Anim-Addo, Deirdre Osborne and Kadija Sesay discuss decolonising your bookshelves at Lambeth Libraries on Wednesday 10 November 2021. The event is now sold out.

On Wednesday 8 December 2021, 牛牛资源 Writers' Centre presents This is the Canon: Decolonize your Bookshelves in 50 Books, with Joan Anim-Addo, Deirdre Osborne and Kadija Sesay in conversation with Sathnam Sanghera.