Johny Pitts – Afropean

03/08/22 • 32 min

Johny Pitts is a multiple-award-winning writer, photographer, and broadcast journalist, originally from Sheffield, England. His first book, Afropean (2020), combines travel writing, photography, history, and slices of memoir into a nonfiction work that seeks to sketch the many lives lived by Black people in contemporary Europe. In this fascinating interview, he tells the story of how he moved from wandering the streets and record stores of his hometown, lost, to becoming the head of continent-wide network of Black writers committed to capturing their experiences in Europe – in all their beauty and challenge.

'Who are the members of the Black community living in a place like Frankfurt?'

Craft is brought to you by Wasafiri, the magazine of international contemporary writing. Check out our website, www.wasafiri.org, for outtakes and a full transcript of this interview, and much more from writers all over the world.

Craft is sponsored by Arts Council England, and Queen Mary University of London.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'Who are the members of the Black community living in a place like Frankfurt?'

Craft is sponsored by Arts Council England, and Queen Mary University of London.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Daniel Mella – Older Brother (El Hermano Mayor)

Daniel Mella is one of the leading writers in contemporary Latin American literature. Born and based in Montevideo, Uruguay, he is a two-time winner of the Bartolomé Hildago Prize. His autofiction novel El Hermano mayor (2017) is his first translated into English, by Megan McDowell, as Older Brother (Charco Press, 2018). In this episode, he discusses the difficult process of converting the real-life tragedy that inspired the novel into a fictionalised account, the dangers of viewing the world through aesthetic eyes, and the revelatory power of dreaming.

‘It wouldn't have been a true book if it was only sad.’

Craft is brought to you by Wasafiri, the magazine of international contemporary writing and Queen Mary University of London with funding from Arts Council England. Check out www.wasafiri.org for transcripts and extras from this interview, and much more from writers from all over the world.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Rob Nixon – Slow Violence

Rob Nixon is the Currie C. and Thomas A. Barron Family Professor of the Humanities and the Environment at Princeton University. His fourth book, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (2011), uniquely made waves across the academic fields of the humanities and in the world of climate change activism. In this episode, Rob details the book's origins in his campaigning for the release of Ken Saro-Wiwa, in his anti-apartheid activism, and in his writing about the nuclear aftermath of the US-Iraq War.

'This is a book that didn't intend to become a book.'

Craft is sponsored by Arts Council England, and Queen Mary University of London.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.