Gasping for Breath: Black crime fiction
'Black people are over-represented in the British penal system and yet under-represented in British crime fiction. This WritersMosaic guest edition advances some thoughts on the reasons for this relative absence, and scopes related possibilities for the crime fiction genre’s evolution.'
Edited by: Peter Kalu
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No Escape
Peter Kalu
“Black British crime fiction is in intensive care.”
Peter Kalu surveys Black British crime fiction and considers how writers being faced with a larger social injustice has stymied it.
Countering conventional crime fiction
Jacqueline Roy
“I couldn’t, in good faith, represent a justice system that is fair and impartial in the novel. How then to write it?”
Jacqueline Roy, on making The Gosling Girl a 'whydunnit' to represent the justice system more realistically for black communities.
A conversation about The Mother
Yvvette Edwards and Peter Kalu
“When we hear about stabbing fatalities, it's a purely male issue... there's an almost complete absence of female voices… women who are absolutely devastated.”
Peter Kalu interviews Yvvette Edwards about black crime fiction and her real life experience of nearly losing her stepson to knife crime.
The Khan
Saima Mir
“The women I knew were strong, smart, and savvy. They navigated the complexities of intersectionality with grace, and sometimes with rage, and they did not fit a stereotype.”
Saima Mir introduces The Khan, its female protagonist Jia Khan and the complexities of British-Asian family dramas.
Bling/Stretch Point
Shahireh Sharif
“I hated his guts. Putting prawns in Veronica’s mouth with his gold-ringed fingers. Veronica should be smiling at me.”
A short story by Shahireh Sharif, who has published two books in Persian and is interested in exploring identity race and gender in her writing.
The Spider’s Bird
Nii Ayikwei Parkes
“A bird is living its life – if you let it be the world continues to turn; if you insert yourself into its world, reality changes, the story changes, just the way the Ananse stories I was told altered with my input.”
Parkes on his 2009 novel Tail of the Blue Bird that draws on the conversational heritage and proverbs of the Ananse stories.
Thurloe Street
Dipali Das
“She hated smoke in the car but knew better than to protest as he lit his roll up and inhaled and exhaled, long and deep like a yogi. The low sun emphasised the depth of the scar by his jaw.”
'Thurloe Street' is a short story by Dipali Das, the British Bengali author and playwright.
Small Regrets
Karline Smith
“Peeping through a slit in the blinds, Sophie saw Guy head off in the dark blue Audi. Then she noticed a car on the opposite side of the road sneak in behind Guy, like a shadow.”
'Small Regrets' is a story by Karline Smith, the author of two dark crime novels, Moss Side Massive (2002) and Full Crew (2003).