I'm Black So You Don't Have to Be

A memoir told through a series of intimate portraits, which build into a poignant, insightful and unforgettable testimony of West Indian British experience. ***A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023*** 'Grant is a natural storyteller... Compelling and charming' BERNARDINE EVARISTO, author of Girl, Woman, Other 'Grant's most revealing work' NEW STATESMAN Im black, so you dont have to be, Colin Grants uncle Castus used to tell him. If Colin born in Britain to Jamaican parents worked hard and became a doctor, his race would become invisible; he would shake off the burden his parents generation had carried. The reality turned out to be very different. This is a memoir told through a series of intimate portraits, including of Grants mother Ethlyn, his father Bageye, his sister Selma, and his great uncle Percy. Each character we meet is navigating their own path. Each life informs Grants own shifting sense of his identity. Collectively, these stories build into an unforgettable testimony of black British experience.