Join us as we celebrate the works of award- winning Liverpool academic, educator, activist and poet Malik Al Nasir. Author of the memoir ‘Letters to Gil’ This event is proud to launch his second publication by Harper Collins, ‘Searching for my Slave Roots’. Malik will be in conversation with Rebecca Loy. This event will be supported and opened by Hayli Kincade a Liverpool based Neo Soul & R&B singer songwriter to uplift spirits! News From Nowhere will be on hand where you can purchase Malik Al Nasir’s My Slave Roots and Letter’s To Gill.

Malik Al Nasir was born in Liverpool to mixed parentage, with a white mother and a black father. Bemused by memories of racist shouts for him to ‘go back to where you came from’ – he came from Liverpool after all – he began to look into his ancestry. This resulting book charts the twists and turns of his journey into the past and explores an untold chapter in both Black and British history. As Malik investigates his roots, he reveals a new history of the transatlantic slave trade and the role of Scottish, Dutch and English merchants.

Malik traced his ancestry through his father Reginald Watsons line back to the sugar cane fields of Demerara in British Guiana. He uncovered new epic tales of enslavement and colonialism within the British Empire. Researching the history for his PhD at University of Cambridge where he has received numerous awards for his work.

Malik will be in conversation with Rebeca Loy, who Specialises in the field of Oppression, holds Diversity and Inclusion PhD and advocates for Sickle Cell having lost her sister Naomi Loy. She is an awarding winning host proud winner of Northern Power Women Future List 2023.