What does it mean – and how does it feel – to grow up as a Black artist today?

One of our most memorable online events during lockdown was with the inspirational Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, for her memoir House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons. We are absolutely delighted to be able to welcome Kadiatu to Penarth in person to talk about her essential new book, To Be Young, Gifted and Black, a moving, powerful exploration of racism in classical music – and how it can be fought.

When Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason's eldest daughter, Isata, made her solo debut at the BBC Proms in 2023, she could not have been prouder. Watching years of hard work transform into a transcendent performance was profoundly moving, both as music-lover and parent. All fractured when her younger daughter came to her in tears a few days later, having read online abuse about her sister. Isata, it was declared, did not deserve to be there. How do you prepare your child for the fact that no matter their talent, technique or dedication, they will be told they do not belong? Through conversations with her extraordinarily gifted family, Kanneh-Mason explores what it's like to come of age in these turbulent times, when Black artistic self-expression is so often met with disparagement and abuse online – and offers a hopeful, powerful way through.

'This exceptional book, written with a mother's love for her seven creative children, sensitively offers profound and original insights and perspectives that enrich our culture. I feel so much wiser for reading it.' - Bernardine Evaristo

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason is a former lecturer in English at Birmingham University. Her memoir, House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons, won both the Royal Philharmonic Society's Storytelling Award and the 2022 Indie Book Award for non-fiction. Kadiatu has seven children, all of whom are world-class classical musicians, who have performed both together and solo at major concert halls around the world.

Wednesday 25 June

7.30 pm (doors open 7.00 pm)

All Saints Church, Victoria Square, Penarth

Tickets: £10.00 event only / £20.00 including a signed hardback copy of To Be Young, Gifted and Black (RRP: £16.99) / £5.00 inclusive ticket / £5.00 student ticket

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