Dispatches from the Diaspora: From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter

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Gary Younge in conversation with Onyekachi Wambu

The Centre for Pan-African Studies invites you to the book launch of: Dispatches from the Diaspora: From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter  

For the last three decades Gary Younge has had a ringside seat during the biggest events and with the most significant personalities to impact the black diaspora: accompanying Nelson Mandela on his first election campaign, joining revellers on the southside of Chicago during Obama’s victory, entering New Orleans days after hurricane Katrina or interviewing Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Maya Angelou and Stormzy. He has witnessed how much change is possible and the power of systems to thwart those aspirations. 

Dispatches from the Diaspora is an unrivalled body of work from a unique perspective that takes you to the frontlines and compels you to engage and to ‘imagine a world in which you might thrive, for which there is no evidence. And then fight for it.’ Reflecting on three decades of his remarkable career as a journalist, Dispatches from the Diaspora is a powerful collection of his writings on race, racism, and Black life and death. A vital and richly researched blend of reportage, memoir and polemic, it invites us ringside with Younge during some of the most history-defining events of the last century. 

About the speakers:

Gary Younge is an award-winning author, broadcaster and a professor of sociology at the University of Manchester in England. Formerly a columnist at The Guardian he is an editorial board member of the Nation magazine, the Alfred Knobler Fellow for Type Media and winner of the 2023 Orwell Prize for Journalism. He has written six books including Dispatches From the Diaspora, From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter; The Speech, The Story Behind Martin Luther King’s Dream; Who Are We?, And Should it Matter in the 21st century. He has also written for The New York Review of Books. Granta, GQ, The Financial Times and The New Statesman and made several radio and television documentaries on subjects ranging from gay marriage to Brexit. 

Onyekachi Wambu is a Nigerian-British journalist and writer. He has directed television documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and PBS. He has written widely on the African diaspora. His most recent publication is the anthology, Empire Windrush: Reflections on 75 Years & More of the Black British Experience. He is currently the Director, Special Projects at the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), an international organisation that aims to expand and enhance the contributions the African diaspora make to African development.

Chair: Dr Mikal Woldu