Maame Blue’s cultural highlights
Maame Blue is a Ghanaian-Londoner, creative writing tutor and author of two novels; Bad Love, which won the 2021 Betty Trask award, and The Rest Of You published in October 2024. Her short stories have been published in multiple anthologies, including in Joyful, Joyful (Pan Macmillan, 2022), Not Quite Right For Us (Flipped Eye Publishing, 2021), and New Australian Fiction 2020 (Kill Your Darlings, 2020). Maame is a recipient of the 2022 Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship and was a 2022 POCC Artist-in-Residence. She contributes regularly to Writers Mosaic and The Bookseller, and her writing has appeared in Refinery29, Black Ballad and The Independent. She teaches creative writing in the UK and Australia, including at City Lit, Arvon and The Stinging Fly.
Book: Caste: The Origins Of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
It has been a long time since I read a book that shifted my view of the world, and this is the most recent one. I picked it up after watching Ava DuVernay’s directorial adaptation of the book Origin. Wilkerson takes some of the biggest human tragedies in our world’s history, and drills down into what makes us most human, and how we can attempt to free ourselves from pains of our ancestral past. It’s an exquisite exercise in empathy.
TV: How To Die Alone
I am only halfway through this new eight episode comedy, but I am addicted to its emotional depth, witty humour and intense heart, written by and starring Natasha Rothwell. If, like me, you were a big fan of the comedy drama Insecure (2016-2021), you’ll recognise Rothwell as the hilarious Kelly, friend and professional ‘reader’ of Issa Rae’s character. She was also a prominent writer on Insecure and her pen soars in How To Die Alone, where she tackles the fine line between being alone and being lonely, and the traps of false intimacy that seem more prevalent now than ever before.
Album: This Is What I Mean by Stormzy
This album has been on steady rotation for two years. My taste in music traverses many genres, and tracks like ‘This Is What I Mean’, ‘Bad Blood’ and ‘Give It To The Water’ speak directly to that part of my fandom. But most of all, what I love about this album is the marked growth for Stormzy as an artist; with each new project his flow and musical touchstones have solidified and expanded somehow. And there isn’t a song featuring the artist Debbie that I am yet to hear and not thoroughly enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDH2WKxcY5g
Experience: Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse Live In Concert
A few months ago, I went solo to the Southbank Centre for a showing of Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse. The film itself is a profound dedication to story, artistic expression and pushing the boundaries of animation, but its musical score adds another dimension. And it was brought to life with the accompaniment of a full orchestra, a scratch DJ on turntables, percussion and electronic instruments. I was thoroughly inspired by how much more a film can become.
https://spiderverseinconcert.com/across/
Third Space: Apartment Coffee
On a trip to Singapore earlier this year, my partner and I stumbled upon a coffee shop. It had no sign, no clear demarcations but, inside, it was simply and minimally decorated. And there was coffee, one of my favourite beverages. There was no wifi. You could sit for an hour, watch your coffee being carefully made using the pour-over method (no machines) and talk to your companion. Or read a book. But work was not encouraged. It was a moment just to pause, and it left me desperate for more of these third spaces here in London. A real place to gain some creative rest.
