A celebration of the one-year publication anniversary of Ify Adenuga’s critically acclaimed memoir, Endless Fortune.
Featuring Ify in conversation with author of That Reminds Me, Derek Owusu.
Endless Fortune tells the life story of Ify Adenuga: a fighter, a thinker, a feminist and a parent.
The first book of its kind from the mother of successful British creatives to examine the experience of the African Diaspora and the complication around immigration from a personal perspective.
We are so excited to have acquired UK and Commonwealth English Language rights from St Martin’s Press for AN ABOLITIONIST’S HANDBOOK: 12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World and the World by Patrisse Cullors, New York Times bestselling author, educator, artist, abolitionist, Co-Founder and former Executive Director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.
In AN ABOLITIONIST’S HANDBOOK, Cullors charts a framework for how everyday activists can effectively fight for an abolitionist present and future. Filled with relatable pedagogy on the history of abolition, a reimagining of what reparations look like for Black lives and real-life anecdotes from Cullors.
Offering 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. AN ABOLITIONIST’S HANDBOOK is for those who are looking to reimagine a world where communities are treated with dignity, care and respect. It gives us the tools to envision change and healing.
OWN IT! founder and commissioning editor, Crystal Mahey-Morgan said:
“Patrisse is without doubt one of the most important thinkers and voices of our time. Through her art and activism, she has consistently changed the conversation around race, equality and mental health, helped to create a more empathetic world and never been afraid to ask the difficult questions that lead to necessary and positive change. In AN ABOLITIONIST’S HANDBOOK, Patrisse goes further to offer us an alternative framework in which to think about freedom and equality, offering a practical guide to how small personal acts can lead to a global movement which centres humanity. We could not be prouder to be publishing this book.”
Patrisse Cullors commented:
“An Abolitionist’s Handbook is filled with relatable teachings from my life and what I’ve learned on my own abolitionist journey. I wrote the handbook to serve as a guide for those who are either just starting to have the conversations questioning the role of law enforcement, or if you’re looking for tools on how to navigate the complex conversations around conflict and harm. A modern-day abolitionist fights for an economy of care over an economy of punishment. A modern – day abolitionist has to focus on reinvesting in our communities and move resources away from police, prisons, surveillance and courts. A modern-day abolitionist is fighting for a present and future that is rooted in healing, love and care.”
Patrisse Cullors is a New York Times bestselling author, educator, artist and abolitionist from Los Angeles, CA. Co-Founder and former Executive Director 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.
Join us on the 14th of October for a celebration of the one-year publication anniversary of Ify Adenuga’s critically acclaimed memoir ENDLESS FORTUNE. Doors open at 7pm. Author of THAT REMINDS ME, Derek Owusu will be in conversation with Ify from 7:30pm, followed by a Q&A and an evening of good music and good vibes.
Hosted at Second Home (London Fields, 125-127 Mare Street E8 3SJ), we’ll see you there.
ENDLESS FORTUNE is now available in all formats.
Hardback | Paperback | eBook | Audiobook
How do you go from being a penniless student in a foreign country to becoming the mother of four of the most successful creatives working in Great Britain today?
A captivating journey written by the formidable Ify Adenuga, mother of Skepta, Jme, Julie and Jason Adenuga.
Part historical, part political but most of all hugely inspirational, Endless Fortune tells the life story of Ify Adenuga: A fighter, a thinker, a feminist and a parent. Born in Lagos, Ify’s life was uprooted by the Nigerian civil war, which ravaged the country in the mid-1960s, forcing her family to flee. In 1980, she headed to London in search of a better life where, a year later, she met her husband Joseph Senior at their workplace – a bingo hall in east London.
In the tough working-class area of Tottenham, the couple raised their four children, Skepta, Jme, Julie and Jason Adenuga and encouraged them to explore their artistic instincts, narrowly avoiding a violent situation that threatened to tear the family apart…
The formidably impressive Ifeomagwu “Ify” Adenuga is married to Joseph Senior Adenuga and mother of Joseph Junior (Skepta), Jamie (JME), Julie and Jason Adenuga. After moving to London from Lagos in 1980, she went on to receive a BA (Hons) in Education & Film studies. Ify has not only raised her own family but continues to work with organisations across the UK and Nigeria to guide and support young people and help them lead independent lives in safe communities. In 2016, she received recognition as an ICON at C. Hub magazine’s prestigious Creativity and Arts Awards which recognises excellence in creativity, leadership and entrepreneurship.
Ify’s debut book ENDLESS FORTUNE is a co-publication between OWN IT! and Boy Better Know (BBK).
Derek Owusu is an award-winning writer and poet from North London. He discovered his passion for literature late in life while studying exercise science at university. Unable to afford a change of degree, he began reading voraciously and sneaking into English Literature lectures at the University of Manchester.
Owusu has written poetry and short stories for the BBC and ITV and regularly features on literary prize judging panels. In 2019, Owusu collated, edited and contributed to SAFE: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space, an anthology exploring the experiences of Black men in Britain.
His first novel, ‘That Reminds Me’, and the first work of fiction to be published by Stormzy’s Merky Books imprint, won the Desmond Elliott Prize for debut fiction, the judges praising it as a ‘transcendent work of literature.’ In 2020, Owusu was one of the founding members of the Black Writers Guild, whose formation was due to the lack of representation and inequalities that exist within mainstream publishing in the UK.
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. On the 392 are all the familiar faces you might expect to see on any bus ride through inner-city London in the grip of gentrification; delinquent school kids, the high-flyers, the weird, the wonderful and the homeless. These Londoners share two things: a bus journey and a threat. A threat which is ready to blow apart everything they know. Now available as an audiobook with 9 narrators.
Creative Director and editor at OWN IT! Jason Morgan acquires world rights directly from Sean Godfrey for his debut novel, SASHA KNIGHT.
Alternating between past and present, 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 that she has simply run away. Sometimes, on the good days, when she isn’t talking to him, her 9-year-old best friend Matthew believes it too…
A coming-of-age tale, portraying the perils of toxic masculinity and the damaging effects of emotional trauma. It also touches on the deep-seated class and colour divide in Jamaican society during the late 70’s and 80’s. A genre-bending mashup that shakes the senses and tears at your heart.
Creative Director and Commissioning Editor, Jason Morgan says “Sasha Knight is the kind of gem you dream of finding in the unsolicited submissions. What first drew me to it was Sean’s unbelievable ability to bring me back to the feeling of being a kid and having a best friend. What Sean does after that is quite remarkable. Characters that live on long after the page has turned, twists and turns you never see coming and a richness of language that is subtlety magnetic but always intoxicating. Sean is the first overseas writer we have published, and his work joins our burgeoning list of debut novels. Something we at OWN IT! are immensely proud of championing”.
SEAN GODFREY
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.
Sean commented, “What a thrill it is to be publishing my debut novel with OWN IT!. The process has been a blast. More than that, the team has made me feel welcomed into their amazing family”.
Check out the article in The Bookseller here.
| "LAUNDRETTE" | Print |
£30.00 – £110.00
| "GRAFFITI" | Print |
£30.00 – £110.00
Endless Fortune by Ify Adenuga
£18.99
AN ABOLITIONIST'S HANDBOOK: 12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World
£16.99
Sasha Knight by Sean Godfrey
£12.99
