Huddersfield Literary Festival has booked in Johny Pitts for a free event discussing his book Afropean – Notes from Black Europe. I’ve not read this yet but have heard that it’s a great book, which will be of interest to all, but particularly students interested in photography and social sciences courses.

Afropean also won the Jhalak Prize in 2020. This is a prize which is awarded each year to a writer of black, Asian or minority ethnic heritage.

• When – 24th March
• Cost – Free online event!
• More info and booking link – HERE
• Times – 7pm – 8pm

The award-winning writer, photographer and broadcast journalist Johny Pitts talks about his book Afropean: Notes from Black Europe, winner of the prestigious 2020 Jhalak Prize.

Afropean is an on-the-ground documentary of areas where Europeans of African descent are juggling their multiple allegiances and forging new identities. Here is an alternative map of the continent, which presents Afropeans as lead actors in their own story.

Johny Pitts has received various awards for his work exploring African-European identity, including a Decibel Penguin Prize and an ENAR (European Network Against Racism) award. He is the curator of the online journal Afropean.com, part of the Guardian’s Africa Network.

Event Info Page

From the University

We are pleased to announce this online event which will be part of the Huddersfield Literature Festival 2021. Johny Pitts is the author of Afropean: Notes From Black Europe (Penguin Random House). Translated into French, German, Italian, and Spanish, it won the 2020 Jhalak Prize and the 2020 Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing, and is the recipient of the 2021 Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding. This event will be an opportunity to hear Johny talk about Afropean and his travels around Europe. He will also take questions from the audience.

Afropean describes Johny’s quest to find “black Europe from the street up”. Along the way he meets and documents the lives of many fascinating characters. According to Colin Grant writing in the Guardian, “Afropean announces the arrival of an impassioned author, able to deftly navigate and illuminate a black world that for many would otherwise have remained unseen.” The book includes many of the arresting images Johny captured on his travels.

Dr. Berenice Golding is a Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences and Health and Social Care in the School of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield. She is also the Diversity Champion for the School and has been involved in the organisation of public events for many years.

The event is brought to you in conjunction with the University of Huddersfield’s Broaden my Bookshelf team.

Hudderfield Literary Festival