David Olusoga announced to attend Birmingham Lit Fest 2021 during Black History Month

David Olusoga, one of the UK’s most respected historians and broadcasters, is due to attend the Birmingham Literature Festival 2021 on Saturday (9th Oct) during Birmingham Black History Month.

The acclaimed writer will be in conversation about his new book ‘Black and British: A Forgotten History’ and take questions from the audience at an event at the University of Birmingham.

Birmingham Black History Month takes place annually in October, hosting a series of events and exhibitions around the city to celebrate the culture, arts, and histories of black communities. After last year’s virtual event launch, due to COVID lockdown guidelines, this year the events are taking place in venues around the city with safety rules in place for attendees.

David Olusoga, 51, will be coming to the city to talk about his latest book during the Birmingham Literature Festival 2021. His new book tells the rich and revealing story of the long relationship between the British Isles and the people of Africa and the Caribbean.

David Olusoga the British-Nigerian historian, broadcaster and film-maker, and Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester, has made a number of important documentaries for the BBC which includes ‘Empire’, ‘The World’s War’, ‘A House Through Time’, and the BAFTA winning ‘Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners’.

With his series of documentaries, and books, Olusoga has ignited a fresh debate around the topic of the British Empire and its part in the transatlantic slave trade which saw untold misery inflicted upon black people, and whose cataclysmic legacy is still felt to this day.

Olusoga has long argued that British history is intrinsically entwined with Black British history – that the great industrial boom of the nineteenth century was built on American slavery, and that black Britons fought at Trafalgar and in the trenches of both World Wars.

The historian is concerned about the “missing chapters” in British history when it comes to black Britons.

Speaking about this issue Olugosa said: “Black history is a series of missing chapters from British history. I’m trying to put those bits back in.”

The historian will discuss his new book ‘Black and British: A Forgotten History’ at the University of Birmingham on Saturday (9th Oct) where he will take questions from the audience.

Olusoga’s new book has already picked up some awards including the Longman-History Today Trustees Award and the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize.

Last year Olusoga held an exclusive interview with former President of the United States, Barack Obama and this year his children’s edition of ‘Black and British: A Short, Essential History’ won the Children’s Illustrated & Non-Fiction book of the year at the 2021 British Book Awards.

His other books include ‘The Kaiser’s Holocaust: Germany’s Forgotten Genocide’ and the’ Colonial Roots of Nazism and Civilizations: Encounters and the Cult of Progress’.

People attending the literary event at the University of Birmingham will have the opportunity to purchase signed copies of Olusoga’s books at the end of the evening.

The event at the University of Birmingham will be held at the Bramall Music Hall at 8pm on Saturday 9th October. (Tickets priced at £15).