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AN ABOLITIONIST’S HANDBOOK: 12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World

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ABOUT THE BOOK

In this book, Cullors charts a framework for how everyday activists can effectively fight for an abolitionist present and future. Filled with relatable insights on the history of abolition, a reimagining of what reparations look like for Black lives and real-life anecdotes from Cullors.

AN ABOLITIONIST’S HANDBOOK offers a bold, innovative, and humanistic approach to how to be a modern-day abolitionist.

Cullors asks us to lead with love, fierce compassion, and precision.

12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World
1. Have Courageous Conversations
2. Commit to Responding vs. Reacting
3. Experiment: Nothing Is Fixed
4. Say “Yes” to Imagination
5. Forgive Actively, Not Passively
6. Allow Yourself to Feel
7. Commit to Not Harming or Abusing Others
8. Practice Accountability
9. Embrace Non-Reformist Reform
10. Build Community
11. Value Interpersonal Relationships
12. Fight the State Rather Than Make It Stronger

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrisse Cullors is a New York Times bestselling author, educator, artist and abolitionist from Los Angeles, CA. Co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Patrisse has been on the frontlines of abolitionist organising for 20 years. Since she began the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013, it has expanded into a global foundation supporting Black-led movements in the US, UK, and Canada and has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. 

In 2020, Patrisse signed an overall production deal with Warner Brothers, where she intends to continue to uplift Black stories, talent, and creators that will continue to transform the world of art and culture. 

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Sasha Knight by Sean Godfrey

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*Available for pre-order now*

A coming-of-age novel, alternating between past and present and shifting back and forth from Jamaica and the United States, SASHA KNIGHT picks apart the puzzle left behind when 11-year-old Sasha disappears. Everyone seems convinced she has simply run away. On thee days when he can’t hear her, Matthew believes it too.

Portraying the perils of toxic masculinity and the damaging effects of emotional trauma. Touching on religion and the deep-seated class and colour divide in Jamaican society, this is a genre-bending mashup that shakes the senses and tears at the heart.   

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sean Godfrey was born in Jamaica and left the island at sixteen to join his mother in America. He has held various jobs including cashier, lab assistant and janitor. When he is not writing he works as a librarian in his home state of Texas, USA.  

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ONE SATURDAY IN 82 ON BROADWAY MARKET – Stuart Goodman

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These black and white photos candidly picture the lives of shoppers and shop owners on this East London market in Hackney, which has since become unrecognisable. A SATURDAY IN 82 ON BROADWAY MARKET preserves images of an East London landmark that has changed from desolation row to one of London’s trendiest markets.


Also featuring Stuart Goodman’s account of his and Stephen Selby’s role in setting up a community initiative to save Broadway Market from demolition, Goodman speaks of the London that existed before gentrification. An East London native, brought up on a Hackney council estate, Goodman had lived in the market and been a shop keeper there for 6 months before photographing it for the first time…

…37 years later, OWN IT! are proud to publish his photographs in a new book, at a time when the market has changed beyond belief.

The 392 by Ashley Hickson-Lovence

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ABOUT THE BOOK


Set entirely on a London bus travelling from Hoxton to Highbury and taking place over just 36 minutes, the events of The 392 unfold through a cast of charismatic characters coming from very different worlds, but tied together through a shared suspicion as the threat of terrorism looms. On the 392 are all the familiar faces you might expect to see on any bus ride through inner-city London in the grips of gentrification: delinquent school kids, the high-flyers, the weird, the wonderful and the homeless. The 392 is primarily about uncovering the passengers’ hidden stories; agendas and ambitions. Switching between the different perspectives – told using first person – powerfully places the reader in the shoes of each character as they observe and make their way to work, school or court. The 392 is a journey through gentrified London and the experiences and feelings that gentrification creates along the way, but ultimately, it’s the story of people, places and perceptions. The roads are real; the locations mentioned are actual local landmarks and the position of bus stops are based on the real route giving the world of the fictional The 392 a brilliantly authentic feel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Ashley Hickson-Lovence is a former secondary school English teacher who grew up on a Hackney council estate and now resides in Norwich while he completes a Creative and Critical Writing PhD at the University of East Anglia. He is particularly interested in capturing the incessantly changing cultural landscape of urban Britain. Hickson-Lovence is also a poet, football referee and a keen marathon runner.

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No Place To Call Home by JJ Bola

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JJ Bola No Place To Call Home Jacket - Immigration

ABOUT THE BOOK

Jean starts at a new school and struggles to fit in. He develops an unlikely friendship with rowdy class mate James, who gets him into a string of sticky situations; fights, theft, and more. At home, his parents, Mami and Papa, who fled political violence in Congo under the dictatorial regime of Le Marechal, to seek asylum as refugees – which Jean and his star-student little sister, Marie, have no knowledge of – pressure him to focus on school and sort his act out. Jean is then suspended, and Marie, who usually gets on his nerves, helps him keep his secret, which draws them closer together.

As the family attempts to integrate and navigate modern British society, as well as hold on to their roots and culture, they meet Tonton, a sapeur, womaniser, alcohol-loving, party enthusiast, who, much to Papa’s dislike, after losing his job, moves in with them. Tonton introduces the family – via his church where colourful characters such as Pastor Kaddi, Patricia and Nadege congregate – to a familiar community of fellow country-people, making them feel slightly less alone. They begin to settle, but the reality of their situation unravels a threat to their future, whilst the fear of uncertainty remains.

With colourful characters and luminous prose, No Place To Call Home is a tale of belonging, identity and immigration, of hope and hopelessness, of loss –not by death, but by distance– and, by no means the least, of love.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JJ BOLA is a Kinshasa born, London raised writer, poet, educator and workshop facilitator. He performs regularly at shows and festivals around the world. JJ Bola’s work is centred on a narrative of empowerment, humanisation, healing of trauma as well as discovery of self through art, literature and poetry. He believes that the true purpose of art is to expose the reality of this world and how to, most importantly, survive it. No place To Call Home is JJ Bola’s debut novel.

VIDEOS

Video from the launch of No Place To Call Home

JJ Bola in conversation with actress Cate Blanchett in Switzerland for the UN Refugee Agency

Storytelling and the Power of One – A conversation hosted by Cate Blanchett

Our Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett is speaking live with refugee Aya Abdullah and former refugee JJ Bola on the power of storytelling.

Posted by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency on Monday, January 22, 2018

JJ Bola’s words are read out in the House of Commons by MP Angus MacNeil

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JJ Bola headlines at the MBIFL 2019 Literary Festival in Kerala, India

No Place To Call Home picked as one of Media Diversified Top 15 Books published in 2017

JJ Bola takes us back to his childhood home and tells us why, as a refugee, he always felt like one of the bad guys from the movies in this personal account on the BBC World Service ‘The Cultural Frontline’ radio programme: 14:40 minutes in

No Place To Call Home long listed for The Guardian ‘Not The Booker Prize’

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