We went to hear Dr Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason talk about her latest book at Five Leaves Bookshop partly because two of our grandchildren are Black and we wanted to understand better how they might experience life here in Nottingham. She, and the book, certainly fulfilled our hopes.

    The book is inadequately classified by the publisher as “music/ memoir”. It is that, but it’s more than that, profoundly political at a time when the political narrative is being deliberately infected with racist notions of what it is to be English or British – other identities not welcome. Her description of the education system and its role in restricting opportunities by class and race, particularly in the arts, is equally political. And damning.

    The book is all about identity and who is “allowed” to play what music and be present in what musical surroundings (see also sofa adverts), with music as a representation of society at large, starkly highlighted by her family’s exceptional talents. It’s also about dual/ multiple identities and how we identify ourselves differently under different circumstances: national, local, football club, political affiliation, religious, race, class, gender, profession and more, by no means all mentioned in the book. It’s mostly the visible identifiers – like punk gear, t-shirt design, workwear and, of course, colour – that are immediately obvious and reacted to.

    The “memoir” format allows her, and her children in particular, to meditate on their own identities, experiences and perceptions, in a very relatable way. No academic jargon or polemic, just lived reality in relation to being Black – which is just what we were looking for an insight into. I hope that reading it will have helped prepare us for conversations that may come up in future.