Girl Gang’s Anti-Racism Book Club #4: Queenie (by Girl Gang Leeds + others)

Girl Gang’s monthly Anti-Racism Book Club provides a platform for education, discussion and reflection as we discuss a range of brilliant texts – fiction and nonfiction – which explore racism, white supremacy and marginalised experiences. The book club takes place on the last Thursday of every month.

We intend to create a long term, consistent space for people to take personal responsibility and communal accountability for their anti-racism learning, creating a space for reflection, discussion and to hear from other voices.

This is a space for everyone – though we would like attendees to be aware that participants may be at different stages of their personal educational journeys. We must be prepared to push one another and address our own shortfalls to get the most out of the sessions, valuing the voices with experience, if they wish to attend.

We’ll be meeting via Zoom! Sessions will involve specific prompts and group discussions in virtual break-out rooms, and will be facilitated by two members of the team. Though some of our facilitators may have lived experience, this is a space for communal learning and structured discussion rather than a teaching space- the ‘teacher” will always be the author of the book.

The next session is on Thursday September 24th 8pm-9.30pm and will be discussing Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams 

“Open, warm and immensely funny, Carty-Williams’s sparkling debut is an unforgettable coming-of-age tale that explores black female identity and sexual politics in contemporary Britain. Hilarious, characterful and assured, Queenie marks the arrival of an exceptional new talent in fiction.

Published on a wave of critical acclaim – and breathless enthusiasm from our booksellers – Candice Carty-Williams’ luminous debut is a joy-filled, painfully funny coming-of-age story set in modern Britain. Fabulous but flawed, defiant but vulnerable, Queenie Jenkins is one of the great fictional creations of the twenty-first century, and her story is, by turns, hilariously funny, dramatic and movingly tender.

Caught between the Jamaican British family who don’t seem to understand her, a job that’s not all it promised and a man she just can’t get over, Queenie’s life seems to be steadily spiralling out of control. Desperately trying to navigate her way through a hot mess of shifting cultures and toxic relationships and emerge with a shred of dignity, her missteps and misadventures will provoke howls of laughter and tears of pity – frequently on the same page.

Tackling issues as diverse as mental health, race, class and consent with a light yet sure touch, Queenie is refreshingly candid, delightfully compassionate and bracingly real. The perfect fable for a frenetic and confusing time, Carty-Williams’ stellar novel is undoubtedly one of the year’s most exciting debuts and announces its author as a fresh and vibrant new voice in British literature.

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020

Shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year 2019

‘Heartbreaking, funny, fresh and modern all at once’ – Cat at Head Office

‘A beautifully emotional, joyful, fist-punching-the-air book’ – Hannah Kate at Liverpool One

‘A powerhouse debut novel’ – Martyn at Finchley Road

Please book your place in advance for each session to receive log-in details – attendance is free but with optional donations to racial justice charities and to pay facilitators and support the work of Girl Gang.

The sessions are open to people of all genders/races/sexualities/classes/disability inclusive – if you have any specific accessibility needs in regards to the sessions, please let us know and we’ll do our very best to accommodate.

For parents, single Mums and those with a legitimate reason to be late, don’t worry we will still let you in the room! For everyone else, please try to be on time if you can so we can all be a part of the full conversation where possible.

This is a joint project between Girl Gang Manchester, Girl Gang Sheffield and Girl Gang Leeds.

Please get in touch if you have any questions!

Image by: Katie O’Rourke

We love to know who’s in our gang! When people book tickets with us we ask some identity related questions so we can see who is attending our events. Knowing about all our differences and similarities helps us feel more informed when striving to create events and content which is more relevant to our audience. Collecting data serves a few functions for us: 
1: We can keep an eye on who’s in the room to brief facilitators if anyone has additional requirements or to ensure the session they are planning is relevant.
2: So we can be aware of underrepresentation and try to counter balance this where possible, (resources dependent as we are volunteer led.)

3: We can potentially use the data for future funding bids, which are some times catered to specific area’s and/or audiences

This data is only stored on Tickettailor which is password protected and only used by one of our team. If you do not feel comfortable sharing this information with us, please simply write N/A in the boxes.