Dates: 1 October – 30 November 2025
Location: Block D, Floor 1, Templeman Library
Black History Month 2025 takes place in October. To celebrate this month, we want to highlight the profound contributions to literature from Africa and the Caribbean in our Language & Literature Hub. This complements our wider Black History Month Display in the Welcome Hall.
The University of Kent has had a thriving postcolonial studies research community from its inception. It was the first University to offer a BA in African and Caribbean Studies. Unsurprisingly, the Templeman Library has a rich and varied collection of works written by authors from these regions.
Books
Our book collection includes many original editions from the African Writer Series. Published by Heinemann, the series includes novels, poems and plays from authors across the continent, activists in the resistance against colonialism in their home countries. One of the first in published was the highly acclaimed Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
We are also pleased to showcase the works of 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature Winner and Emeritus Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah, some of which were first drafted in the Templeman Library. For a full list of his works in the Library, browse our resources list.
From the Caribbean, we feature works from the Caribbean Writers Series, modelled on the success of the African series, as well as works that support our English Literature programmes and contemporary titles from the Love to Read collection.
Browse our Caribbean & African Literature Resource list to discover all of these books, ebooks and more.
Journals
The Templeman Library provides access to online journals on African and Caribbean Literature. We also found print journals from Nigeria and Guyana published around the time of their struggles for independence. Amongst essays and commentaries on the challenges of the emerging states are poems and discussions about literature.
These are exhibited alongside our book display for you to read and enjoy.
Special Collections
Our Special Collections & Archives also have some fantastic literature from Africa and the Caribbean bequeathed by Emeritus Professor Louis James.
The Louis James Collection contains more than 1000 books published from the late 19th century right up to 2021. You can browse or search the whole collection and request any items to view in the reading room. Contact specialcollections@kent.ac.uk to make an appointment to view.
This display is available until the end of November so take the opportunity to explore these resources this autumn.
#BHM25