Live and local – it’s the lockdown Brixton Book Jam

Brixton Book Jam icon

The next Brixton Bookjam may be virtual, but it’s also local, with novelist Stella Duffy and podcasters Deserters among the authors taking part.

The live lockdown BookJam will be on Monday 18 January from 8 to 9pm. You can sign up online.

Among the participants are …

STELLA DUFFY OBE – not only the author of both literary and crime novels and short stories, but also co-director of the Fun Palaces movement and a playwright and actor.

DESERTER – orchestrated mainly from pubs, they say, by South Londoners Andrew Grumbridge and Vincent Raison, is an essential guide, via podcasts, website and more, for anyone wanting to Shirk, Rest and Play anywhere from Brixton to Brockley. They are also fundraising to publish a book.

SALENA GODDEN – her debut novel, Mrs Death Misses Death, has had rave previews from Idris Elba and Benjamin Zephaniah among others and is published on 28 January. She has also published poetry including Pessimism is for Lightweights: 13 Pieces of Courage and Resistance, now into its fourth edition, inspired by protests and rallies and saluting people fighting for justice, with poems on sexism and racism, class discrimination, period poverty and homelessness, immigration and identity. 

COURTTIA NEWLAND published his acclaimed first novel, The Scholar, in 1997 followed by Society Within (1999) and Snakeskin (2002). He is the co-editor of the anthology IC3: The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain. His most recent novel is The Gospel According to Cane (2013).

KIT FAN, a poet, novelist, and critic, was born and educated in Hong Kong and moved to the UK at 21. His debut novel Diamond Hill will be published in May this year. His second book of poems, As Slow As Possible, was a Poetry Book Society recommendation and, one of The Guardian’s “50 biggest books” in Autumn 2018.

NIKITA GILL has more than 600,000 followers on Instagram and has been described as one of the most successful “Instapoets”. She has also written and curated six poetry books. Her latest, Where Hope Comes From: Healing poetry for the heart, mind and soul, will be published on 18 February.

MIK ARTISTIC the Leeds-based artist and performer is a regular at Glastonbury and works as a musician, comedian, writer and performance poet.