Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Special offer: Receive 12 issues for just £12!
Subscribe today
Books

5 books to read about women confronting racism, selected by author and comedian Njambi McGrath

The Kenyan-born comedian and author picks five books that explore racism

Image: Thought Catalog on Unsplash

From books that serve as an awakening for white people to explorations of the Black experience, here are five books on racism chosen by comedian Njambi McGrath.

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

This book became a bestseller in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020; an awakening for white people in the reality of what it means to be Black in a world dominated by white supremacists.

Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible by Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené 

An exploration of life for young Black women in the UK. They examine how commerce and industry is formulated to cater for a white demographic, including things that people take for granted such as makeup. 

This is Why I Resist: Don’t Define My Black Identity by Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu digs down into the deep roots of racism and anti-Blackness in the UK and US. She delves into subjects rarely explored, such as racial gatekeepers, white ingratitude and performative allyship.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

This 2017 young adult novel is Angie Thomas’s debut, expanded from a short story she wrote in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant.

Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging by Afua Hirsch

The Sunday Times bestseller that reveals the uncomfortable truth about race and identity in Britain today.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Rinsing Mũkami’s Soul by Njambi McGrath cover

Rinsing Mũkami’s Soul by Njambi McGrath is out on 22 February (Jacaranda Books, £18.99). You can buy these titles from The Big Issue shop on Bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.

This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy!

If you cannot reach your local vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue today or give a gift subscription to a friend or family member. You can also purchase one-off issues

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

READER-SUPPORTED SINCE 1991

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Recommended for you

View all
How did Agatha Christie get poisons and obscure medicines so right?
Books

How did Agatha Christie get poisons and obscure medicines so right?

Top 5 creepy noir novels, chosen by psychological thriller author Lily Samson
Books

Top 5 creepy noir novels, chosen by psychological thriller author Lily Samson

Where the Axe is Buried by Ray Nayler review – speculative fiction with an emotional core
Books

Where the Axe is Buried by Ray Nayler review – speculative fiction with an emotional core

The Man on the Endless Stair by Chris Barkley review – mind-bending revelations
Books

The Man on the Endless Stair by Chris Barkley review – mind-bending revelations

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payments: Where to get help in 2025 now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payments: Where to get help in 2025 now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue