Hardback
Untitled
By Malik Al Nasir
This book will be an exploration of an untold chapter in both Black and British history, seen through Malik’s own investigation into his mixed Guyanese heritage.
With ancestors that had been both enslaved people and prominent slaveholders, Malik Al Nasir will uncover a completely new narrative on historical transatlantic slavery and the role of Scottish, Dutch and English Merchants, whose holdings were financed through the proceeds of the Demerara sugar and slave trade. Malik will uncover a lineage linking slaveholdings to high sheriffs, mayors, a late Prime Minister and bankers, whose companies formed major modern-day financial institutions. Travelling around the Atlantic world, he will unravel the legacies of slavery, plantation economics and the wealth of a slaveholding dynasty that he himself descended from, and the nuanced ways that historic trauma plays down through generations of the enslaved, and how wealth and privilege plays out across generations of slaveholders and their descendants.
PRAISE FOR LETTERS TO GIL: -
‘A searing, triumphant story. A testament to the tenacity of the human spirit as well as a beautiful ode to an iconic figure’ -
Irenosen Okojie -
‘An incredible story, one that will have you jaw-dropped in disbelief at the cruelty meted out to Malik as a boy but also uplifted by his courageous, irrepressible exuberance, by his determination to defy the shitty hand he was dealt after he was put into the care system. And at the centre of this remarkable story stands the towering figure of Gil Scott-Heron …This is an intensely powerful and vivid memoir … When a book like Letters to Gil comes along, you are reminded of how indomitable the human spirit can be and how light can emerge from darkness, and joy from pain’ -
Jamie Byng -
‘Letters to Gil [is] part of a growing corpus of Black British memoir that confronts difficult subjects … It is also a tribute to artists who blend creative expression with fearless political commentary, such as the hip-hop artists Mos Def, Nas and the members of Public Enemy. With this brave memoir, Al Nasir can be counted among them’ -
TLS -
‘So compelling … Given the magnetism that he clearly displays I only hope that he will find time to be a new leader for the UK jazz movement … Voices such as his are certainly needed. His story is a wake-up call’ -
Marlbank -
‘Tells the story of his life - including his brutal treatment in care homes as a child -and his friendship with the musician-poet [Gil Scott-Heron]. His candid, eye-opening story includes a joyously uplifting tale of the time he accompanied Scott-Heron to meet Stevie Wonder’ -
Independent, Books of the Month -