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Posted on October 11th 2021
HAP Hosts Penguin Lit in Colour Event for Black History Month
Harris Academy Peckham this month hosted Femi Fadugba, author of sci-fi thriller The Upper World, in conversation with YouTuber Hena Bryon ‘Bookish Babe’, as part of the Penguin Lit in Colour campaign.
One hundred and thirty Year 9 students took part in the event to mark Black History Month, hearing Femi talk about his own Peckham roots and their influence on the book, which is soon to be adapted into a major movie starring Daniel Kaluya.
The event forms part of Penguin’s Lit in Colour campaign with The Runnymede Trust, which aims to support schools to diversify the teaching of English literature. Research published by the campaign earlier in the year found that fewer than 1% of students at GCSE in England study a book by a writer of colour.
To engage young people in the campaign, Lit in Colour has set up a dedicated TikTok account posting content which helps young people discover books by writers of colour from a range of different publishers, hosted by popular ‘BookTok’ influencers Coco and Carla.
The Upper World event was live streamed on the TikTok channel to enable more young people to tune in across the country. Video content from the event will also be published on the publisher’s young adult channels including Penguin Platform’s YouTube channel.
Mr Lane
Assistant Principal
