Zadie Smith in Conversation with Kwame Kwei-Armah

On 17 June 2024, I went to see Zadie Smith at Union Chapel, a beautiful venue in Highbury, Islington, north London. The event's host was Kwame Kwei-Armah, courtesy of the Intelligence Squared.

As I travelled on the 30 bus to the area, nostalgia sank right in. I grew up in Highbury; it's where I went to primary and secondary school. In my adult years, I worked and lived there. Although I'm not based in Islington now, this journey felt like I was coming home. How cool that my first physical sighting of Zadie Smith was in my home town territory!

I have seen Zadie many times in a range of interviews on YouTube videos over the years, but this was seeing her in-person; a whole other anticipated and excited experience was in store. I arrived twenty minutes early to find a lengthy queue outside. I eventually managed to find a good enough seat three rows from the front in the middle section. The venue's capacity is 800 people and it was full to capacity!

Zadie was appearing at this event to talk about her new novel, The Fraud, named in December as one of the ten best books of 2023 by the staff of The New York Times Book Review. This is Zadie's sixth novel, first novel in seven years, and her debut historical novel. She was also at this event to mark the publication of the paperback edition of the novel.

The Fraud's main characters are based on real historical figures — alleged fraudsters, freed enslaved people — who lived in Zadie's own London neighbourhood of Kilburn, north-west London. Yet, the novel is as international as it is local and addresses issues of politics and identity that make The Fraud feel as much about today as about the past.

The novel explores the controversy surrounding the Tichborne case, in which a lower-class man claimed to be the lost heir to an aristocratic family fortune. The plot is partly about an enslaved man on a Jamaican sugar plantation whilst simultaneously a complicated and comedic narrative that sketches scenes of life in 19th century England and the Caribbean. Much of the novel follows a bizarre court case, that gripped the British public during that time period. 

The event started with Zadie reading a short passage from The Fraud followed by a conversation with Kwame, who embarked upon a range of questions about the idea behind the book, the characters, plot, and her writing journey from start to publication. The book took two years to write but many years of research beforehand. We were then in store for a general discussion about Zadie's writing career, writing process, and how she lives her life without social media distractions, during which she was, as usual, her most generous. 

My experience of being in the limelight of Zadie Smith for one and a half hours was in one word mesmerizing! I got so much from hearing her talk; it was such a splendid experience. I knew Zadie had a way with the written word but this extends to her spoken words too, which is why she is such an inspiring and insightful writer. Every word she spoke was richly textured, nuanced and multi-layered with such depth of understanding of not just her craft but the world at large which came through in the way she responded to every question she was asked, not just by Kwame but during the Q & A at the end.

Brixton Revisited; Brixton Remembered

Shangwe · Brixton Revisited; Brixton Remembered

Jem Perucchini's 'Rebirth of a Nation' Brixton Station's Header Mural
Photo Credit: Angus Mill

A collaboration with Art on the Underground

In one of the units of my Writing MA at the Royal College of Art we were asked to individually write a text in response to an Art on the Underground commission for Brixton Stations's header wall and the historical context of the Brixton murals. We were also asked to individually create a five-minute audio piece, which is now hosted here on the Art on the Underground website .

My final audio piece is now available to listen to via SoundCloud (above) and the full transcript is available to read (below). 'Brixton Revisited'; 'Brixton Remembered' is a second-person spoken word vignette-style narrative in two parts — 

'Brixton Revisited' expresses my perspective of returning to a place you haven't visited for ten years; seeing the place with fresh eyes. 'Brixton Remembered' reflects a perspective from Kim Watson, a friend, who has lived in Brixton for thirty years. You could say the whole piece is a reflection of time and place, past and present.

Brixton Station's Header Mural
Photo Credit: Angus Mill

We also individually provided a short text for a leaflet to be distributed at Brixton tube station. The leaflet is to serve as an advert for the audio and will be distributed to Brixton tube travellers. We worked with graphic designer Fraser Muggeridge and had input on the leaflet design as the project progressed. Two pieces of my artwork were also selected for inclusion in the leaflet's design. 

Audio Transcript:

Brixton Revisited

Brixton looks both familiar and new,
like a foreign country you are returning to after many years.
An exile you don't even remember.

The buildings are mostly the same.
Morleys is still firm,
though its prices have fluctuated to levels
that exclude rather than include.
Business as usual trumps community development.

The details have changed: the younger generation with smartphones,
directing their rights of passage into their virtual life,
electric bikes and bikes for hire taking up space,
protruding dangerously misplaced.
Cyclists on single speed bikes,
confronted with potholes that bite back.

Gentrification has a presence
with pop-up shops floating, trying,
to fit in somehow.

Reggae rhythms, bass lines and crisp soundscapes
the one staple that continues to express itself everywhere you go
You can easily relate.

Refreshing black cultural shops flourishing
in their upmarket presentations
and their attractive holistic goods,
their sweet meditative sounds
soothing your shopping experience.

Restaurants from every which way,
chain stores spreading their wings
offering light refreshments,
coffee, bubble tea — sometimes free —
encouraging lengthy queues.

The hustle and bustle surrounding the tube hasn't changed;
that you know you can rely on

you hear police and ambulance sirens
flow as per usual with their fast-paced energy.

The new, exquisite tube-header mural
is mesmerizing
you stay transfixed on its impact
you absorb its largeness; its entirety envelopes a stunning yet glowing earthly look.

The Windrush mural greets you
— two front-line pieces with warm tones
— as you step into Brixton Village, with its edgy vibe

You need to feel this yourself; it's much more of an experience than a sighting.

Brixton Remembered

So, what does Brixton mean to you?
Especially since you have been living here for 30 years.
Why Brixton?
You told me that it was reminiscent of Liverpool, where you were born, although you mentioned that the diversity of the people here wasn't as mixed back then.

Originally, you could say Brixton was perceived
as a bit 'ghettoish' following the 1981 uprisings.
It's now quite the middle-class enclave
It's gone a bit trendy.

Brixton has also become a constant nightlife
of drinking and eating.
You see, it's just bar after bar after restaurant after restaurant.
You know this is for the younger generation
and it's an overpowering new energy
an ever-evolving new nation.

Brixton Village is a prime example
that has seen the most significant changes to its landscape
over the last five years.

The beating heart of Brixton can't be replaced despite the fact that
the established multi-cultural and multi-generational community
is being lost.

You are concerned that the upmarket shops and offices
are displacing the local market traders
and you are also concerned that
the traditional community of Windrush descendants have
been steadily — over the last eight to ten years — driven out of the area,
replaced by the so-called young professionals.

Also, you used to know who was out there
standing on your street corner,
familiar faces I mean.
Now, that's gone,
You don't know anyone out there anymore.
That's what's scary.

The realisation is that the Brixton you knew historically
is gone, the Brixton you knew culturally is gone,
and the Brixton you know now is a fading memory
which is ever shapeshifting,
ever being reprocessed, reinvented,
in the name of progress, growth, development, and change,
in the name of out with the old, and in with the new.