In the last few years, the ongoing movement to decolonise our history and heritage, especially in the wake of Black Lives Matter, has highlighted the stories of those erased by dominant historical discourse and confronted the reality that much of the story of those involved in the slave trade had all but been glossed over. 

When slavery was abolished across most of the British Empire, tens of thousands of enslavers were paid millions in government money; those who had been enslaved were given nothing. Alex Renton tells the story of his own family’s history as slave and plantation owners, exploring what political, economic, moral and spiritual inheritance has been passed to both descendants of slave owners and those of the enslaved. Crucially, he asks how descendants of slave owners – himself included – can begin to make reparations for the past.

Alex will be in conversation with Lisa Williams, founder of the Edinburgh Caribbean Association, who runs educational and anti-racist programmes and leads walking tours focusing on Edinburgh’s Black history. This will be vital conversation on how the past still affects our lives today, and how we ensure the needed work continues.

Tickets are FREE. 

All events in The Scottish Books Long Weekend will be recorded and will be uploaded to the Publishing Scotland YouTube channel with closed captions on Tuesday 15 June.

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Alex Renton is a journalist who has won awards for his work as an investigator, war correspondent and food policy writer. He has also worked for Oxfam, in East Asia, Haiti and on the Iraq war. Most recently he has been a columnist on the Times and correspondent for Newsweek magazine. Blood Legacy is his second book, with all his profits from publication going to charity.

Lisa Williams grew up in Dorset in a British-Grenadian family. After relocating to Edinburgh, she founded the Edinburgh Caribbean Association and curates a range of arts events across Scotland to promote Caribbean culture. She runs educational and anti-racist programmes in schools and universities and leads walking tours focusing on Edinburgh's Black History. Lisa works as a heritage consultant to many national and regional institutions across Scotland and is a member of several advisory boards. She is an author and poet, chairs and performs at literary festivals, and loves to teach creative writing to all ages. She has a BA in Psychology/African and Asian Studies, an MA in Arts, Festival and Cultural Management, is a Research Associate at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and an Honorary Fellow in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.

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This event is part of the Scottish Books Long Weekend 10 to 13 June. For the full programme, see BooksfromScotland.com/scottish-books-long-weekend/.

Books are available to buy from our bookshop partners Bookshop.org.