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My White Best Friend

(And Other Letters Left Unsaid)

Rachel De-lahay editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:23rd Jun '20

Should be back in stock very soon

My White Best Friend cover

An anthology collecting 23 'letters left unsaid' from some of the most exciting voices in the UK and beyond.

“Could you put your white best friend on stage and remind them that they’re part of the problem? Even if you love them? Even if you never want anyone to feel for even a moment how you feel living in this world every day? Would - could - a white person finally hear what you have to say?”


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Originally commissioned by The Bunker Theatre as a critically-acclaimed festival that ran in 2019, My White BestFriend collects 23 letters that engage with a range of topics, from racial tensions, microaggressions and emotional labour, to queer desire, prejudice and otherness. Expressing feelings and thoughts often stifled or ignored, the pieces here transform letter writing into a provocative act of candour.


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Funny, heartfelt, wry and heart-breaking, whether a letter to their younger self or an ode to the writer's tongue, this anthology of exceptional writing is always engaging and thought-provoking.


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Featuring different letters from some of the most exciting voices in the UK and beyond, My White Best Friend (And Other Letters Left Unsaid) includes work from: Zia Ahmed, Travis Alabanza, Fatimah Asghar, Nathan Bryon, Matilda Ibini, Jammz, Iman Qureshi, Anya Reiss, Somalia Seaton, Nina Segal, Tolani Shoneye, Lena Dunham, Inua Ellams, Rabiah Hussain, Mika Johnson, Jasmine Lee-Jones, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, Shireen Mula, Ash Sarkar, Jack Thorne and Joel Tan.

This extremely topical compilation of thought-provoking letters speaks to us all … A carefully designed anthology of heartfelt and emotional writing … It leaves the reader with the lasting feeling that more communication from every side would only help to achieve more understanding and cohesion. This compilation is a great start. * Broadway World *
The various writers’ anecdotes and Rachel De-Lahay’s purple prose and the unique idea to twinkle out some connections with the present make the book – bravura! * Ethnic and Racial Studies *

ISBN: 9781786829016

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 10mm

Weight: 1g

280 pages