The Cambridge Companion to British Black and Asian Literature (1945–2010)
Cambridge Companions to Literature Series

This Companion offers a comprehensive account of the influence of contemporary British Black and Asian writing in British culture. While there are a number of anthologies covering Black and Asian literature, there is no volume that comparatively addresses fiction, poetry, plays and performance, and provides critical accounts of the qualities and impact within one book. It charts the distinctive Black and Asian voices within the body of British writing and examines the creative and cultural impact that African, Caribbean and South Asian writers have had on British literature. It analyzes literary works from a broad range of genres, while also covering performance writing and non-fiction. It offers pertinent historical context throughout, and new critical perspectives on such key themes as multiculturalism and evolving cultural identities in contemporary British literature. This Companion explores race, politics, gender, sexuality, identity, amongst other key literary themes in Black and Asian British literature. It will serve as a key resource for scholars, graduates, teachers and students alike.

Introduction Deirdre Osborne; Part I. Traces and Routes: 1. (1940s–70s) Susheila Nasta; 2. British Black and Asian writing since 1980 Chris Weedon; Part II. Translocations and Transformations: 3. Liberationist political poetics Birgit Neumann; 4. Women's fiction and literary (self) determination Pallavi Rastogi; 5. Brutalised lives and brutalist realism Modhumita Roy; 6. Stages of representation D. Keith Peacock; Part III. Restorations and Renovations: 7. Recalibrating the past James Procter; 8. Black women subjects in auto/biographical discourse Suzanne Scafe; 9. British Black and Asian LGBTQ writing Kanika Batra; 10. The poetics and politics of spoken word poetry Corinne Fowler; 11. Post-colonial plurality in fiction Malachi McIntosh; Part IV. National, International, Trans-global: 12. 'Adoption aesthetics' John McLeod; 13. Genre crossings: rewriting 'the lyric' in Black British poetry Romana Huk; 14. 'Other' voices and the British literary canon Bénédicte Ledent; 15. Critical outlooks Paul Warmington.

Deirdre Osborne is Reader in English Literature and Drama at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her research interests span late-Victorian literature and maternity, to Black British writing. She has guest-edited the Special Issue 'Contemporary Black British Women's Writing' Women: A Cultural Review (2009) and co-edited Modern and Contemporary Black British Drama (2014).