1. An engaging Library of Congress interview with Howard W. French about his book, ‘Born in Blackness’, At the Heart of Modernity: Africa and Africans https://youtu.be/cmm6i2eV0uc
From the blurb: “What happens when you consider the origins of modernity and center (I still have to restrain the urge to ‘correct’ this spelling of centre) Africa rather than Europe? Howard W. French’s book explores that very question as he investigates the forgotten history of how Africa and its relations to the Western world played an integral role in the development of the modern world.”
Here’s Howard French’s own website https://www.howardwfrench.com/
And here’s two reviews of his book,
one from The New York Times, A History of Modernity That Puts Africa at Center Stage https://tinyurl.com/24xjhkf9
and one from The Guardian , Born in Blackness: dehumanised in the age of discovery https://tinyurl.com/5erw2taa
I couldn’t find any reviews from The Times or The Daily Telegraph, which is a bit sad.
And while we’re in the vicinity, the Library of Congress YouTube channel is an extraordinarily rich resource https://www.youtube.com/@loc and here’s their website https://www.loc.gov/
2. Windrush Day is celebrated here in the UK on 22nd June each year. The House of Lords Library has done its usual unsurpassably thorough job with this background paper https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/arrival-of-the-empire-windrush-celebrating-the-75th-anniversary/
Here’s Linton Kwesi Johnson reading his poem, Tings, at the very first Windrush Day, in 2018 https://youtu.be/M6hcMRjCOxo
The Conversation is publishing a series of pieces on Windrush in the lead up to 22nd June. Here’s the first, with links to several more at the bottom of the page https://theconversation.com/the-windrush-generation-how-a-resilient-caribbean-community-made-a-lasting-contribution-to-british-society-204571
3. IATEFL offers no fewer than twenty-four scholarships to its annual conference each year, and the deadline for 2024 applications is 16:00 UK time on Wednesday, 21st June https://www.iatefl.org/get-involved/scholarships Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
4. I thought this was a truly extraordinary story, US urged to reveal UFO evidence after claim that it has intact alien vehicles https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/06/whistleblower-ufo-alien-tech-spacecraft
5. And, finally, the return of a ninety-six-year-overdue library book https://nicenews.com/culture/library-books-checked-in-96-years-later/