Ekow Eshun – The Strangers
Five Extraordinary Black Men and the Worlds That Made Them
WithEkow Eshun
In conversation withBriana Pegado
On:14th October 2024, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
We're delighted that writer, curator and journalist Ekow Eshun is coming to the bookshop for an event to celebrate the publication of his latest book, The Strangers: Five Extraordinary Black Men and the Worlds That Made Them. Richly imagined, radical and revisionist - the book is a portrait of Black masculinity told through the lives and voices of five remarkable Black men. He will be in conversation with writer and social entrepreneur Briana Pegado.
This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the event.
In-person vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event against a single copy of The Strangers – we will have a list of attendees with vouchers to be redeemed. Please note that only one voucher can be redeemed per book. Livestream vouchers are valid until the day after the event and can be redeemed on our website against a single copy of The Strangers.
About The Strangers:
In the Western imagination, a Black man is always a stranger. Outsider, foreigner, intruder, alien. One who remains associated with their origins irrespective of how far they have travelled from them. One who is not an individual in their own right but the representative of a type.
What kind of performance is required for a person to survive this condition? And what happens beneath the mask? In answer, Ekow Eshun conjures the voices of five very different men.
Ira Aldridge: trailblazing Shakespearean actor, playwright, abolitionist, acclaimed and feted across nineteenth century Europe.
Matthew Henson: the first man ever to reach the North Pole, after eighteen years of successive attempts.
Frantz Fanon: revolutionary psychologist and political philosopher, a forefather of modern post-colonial theory.
Malcolm X: firebrand leader in the American civil rights movement, an icon in the fight for racial justice.
Justin Fashanu: gifted sportsman and notorious showman, the first professional footballer in the world to come out publicly as gay.
Each a trailblazer in his field. Each haunted by a sense of isolation and exile. Each reaching for a better future.
Ekow Eshun tells their stories with breathtaking lyricism and empathy, capturing both the hostility and the beauty they experienced in the world. And he locates them within a wider landscape of Black art, culture, history and politics which stretches from Africa to Europe to North America and the Caribbean. As he moves through this landscape, he maps its thematic contours and fault lines, uncovering traces of the monstrous and the fantastic, of exile and escape, of conflict and vulnerability, and of the totemic central figure of the stranger.
Please note: Tickets for our events are non-refundable. Professional photography and videography may take place during this event. Thank you for your understanding.
Participants:
Ekow Eshun Author
Ekow Eshun is a writer, curator and journalist based in London, and former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts. His previous books include Black Gold of the Sun and Africa State of Mind, the latter published by Thames & Hudson in 2020. Michelle D. Commander is the associate director of New York’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. She is the author of Afro-Atlantic Flight: Speculative Returns and the Black Fantastic (2017). Kameelah L. Martin is the director of the African American Studies Program and professor of African American Studies and English at the College of Charleston, North Carolina.
Briana Pegado Chair
Briana Pegado FRSA is an award-winning social entrepreneur, author, and fellow of the Royal Society of Arts with nearly a decade's experience as a senior manager in the creative industries in Scotland. In 2010, she helped set up the University of Edinburgh's first ever Black History Month. She was elected Edinburgh University Students Association's (EUSA) first black woman President in the union's 130-year history in 2014. She is the former director of Creative Edinburgh and Co-Director of Creative Informatics, former Co-Director of We Are Here Scotland, and former Creative Director of Fringe of Colour Films. She works as an anti-racism and governance consultant across the third and public sectors. She is a data-driven innovation ambassador for the Edinburgh Futures Institute, chair of the Scottish Government Culture Fair Work Taskforce, and regular contributor to BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday Morning Show. She published her first book Make Good Trouble: A Guide to the Energetics of Disruption in April.
The venue
The Portobello Bookshop
46 Portobello High Street
Edinburgh
EH15 1DA
Telephone: 0131 629 6756
Website: www.theportobellobookshop.com
Wheelchair Access
We have a ramp at the front of the shop which has a ratio of 1:10 and loading capacity of 300kg, and so should be able to be used by most wheelchair users or those with mobility vehicles. The front doors are fully automated. Our shop interior is designed to allow access throughout for wheelchair users and prams, though please note there is only 700mm wide clearance to access the staff toilet.
Sound
We use a PA system to enhance the audio at our live events. We also have a hearing loop system installed, if you’d like to use our loop system during an event please let us know and we’ll make sure we have it set up and connected to the live audio feed during the event. If you wish to attend an event and require BSL interpretation, please give us a few weeks notice and we’ll do our best to arrange an interpreter.