FESTIVAL BOOKS | Nikesh Shukla
climate << It is this lack of real action along with an troubling increasingly political that resulted in the birth of The Good Immigrant, a project which brought together 21 black and minority ethnic writers to examine what it means to be BAME in Britain today. In September, it will be a year since the collection was released and a year since Shukla and his fellow contributors shifted the conversation surrounding identity and Britishness for the better.
‘It has been a wild year,’ Shukla proclaims when asked about the reaction to the project. ‘I thought we would maybe sell like a thousand copies and people would go “oh yeah, that was good”. But we really did do alright.’
Despite the past year being a whirlwind of praise and accolades, it’s also featured plenty of right-wing trolls and criticisms from a Tory MP, who described Shukla’s work as discriminatory to white people. Still, The Good Immigrant has certainly caused a stir in publishing, prompting more attention to be paid to non-white writers and readers. But even though there is an unbridled sense of hope that surrounds the project, Shukla believes that the industry still has some way to go. ‘I think there’s dei nitely a feeling that diversity’s really on trend right now. Someone told me that they’ve been in a meeting where someone has said “well, black girls are so hot right now”. Here’s the thing, my skin colour is not a l uctuating lucrative or unlucrative marketing trend depending on the whims of the market; it’s my fucking life.’
For there to be a real change in the output of organisations and companies, there needs to be diversity across the board, which Shukla thinks is especially important for young people who don’t see themselves represented in the media and in culture enough. ‘When the thing that makes you feel like you don’t belong is a social construct or the colour of your skin and the history that imbues on
42 THE LIST FESTIVAL 10–17 Aug 2017
you, it’s really hard,’ he says. ‘And so having those aspirational role models could be so powerful for young people to make them feel, on the one hand, normal and, on the other, like they can do anything.’ Shukla has himself been role model a positive to many and mentor young people of colour, especially in his work as the editor of Bristol-based youth-led magazine Rife. ‘I can’t pay my mentors Salena Godden and Niven Govinden back for that instrumental role they played in my life,’ he says, ‘but I can pay it forward and be that person for other writers. Sometimes just giving someone your time could be the critical thing that they need to further their career.’
Along with a myriad of other projects currently in the works, Shukla has most recently contributed his i rst YA story to A Change is Gonna Come, an anthology of short stories and poetry from British BAME YA writers. For now though, his sights are set i rmly on Edinburgh, where he’ll be making his i rst appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival with fellow The Good Immigrant contributors, Coco Khan and Miss L. The trio will be discussing, among other things, how you i t into the world if you feel unwelcome in the place you call home. While we shouldn’t have to keep having these conversations, the reality is that being BAME in the UK in 2017 means constantly being reminded of your difference through systemic inequalities that exist in society. Nevertheless, thanks to writers like Nikesh Shukla and the impact that books like The Good Immigrant have had on readers all over the country, people are i nally listening and we’re i nally getting a seat at the table to contribute to a working multicultural society.
Nikesh Shukla: Unwelcome Welcome, Charlotte Square Gardens, 15 Aug, 8.30pm, £8 (£6).