As the cosy season approaches, more visiting speakers and authors are opting to make their events virtually accessible to schools across the UK. Barr Beacon’s iCentre was proud to join Booktrust in hosting Jeffrey Boakye’s virtual Q&A alongside pupils from 30 other schools. Jeffrey Boakye is an educator, broadcaster and author of several books exploring the interactions between race and British culture across various disciplines; titles such as ‘I Heard What You Said’ and ‘Black, Listed’ break open a passionate and expansive dialogue into the experiences of Black youth in the UK, educators working within the education system and the evolution of Black culture in the UK reminiscent of David Olusoga’s ‘Black and British’. 

In a live stream spanning just under an hour, Mr. Boakye discussed the contents of his most recent publication ‘Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs’, a history illustrated by a curated playlist of songs meant to be listened to alongside the text, as well as fielding questions from pupils live over Youtube. At Barr Beacon School, we are uncompromising in our celebration of diversity, with our curriculum recently being brought in line with Pearson Educational’s own ‘Lit In Colour’ initiative and an influx of books from BAME authors joining the shelves of our library facilities, so we were overjoyed to be a part of Mr. Boakye’s Q&A session. 

Keep your eyes on the screens for future author events, and for any pupils looking to read Jeffrey Boakye’s ‘Musical Truth’ please speak to your iCentre Co-ordinator to place it in reserve, as our current copies have already flown off the new arrivals shelf!