In this incisive, moving and personal essay, one of the nation’s leading political voices, explores the ‘burden of representation’.

Gary Younge analyses the pressures exerted upon the relatively small group of people from underrepresented communities, who break through into elite spaces and the expectations that may come from above, below, within and outwith, from those with power and those without. These are issues that have framed, frustrated, inspired, and inflected his entire working life as a writer.

Younge offers reflections on how to navigate representation, power and responsibility while keeping your job, your sanity and your freedom both as a human being and as a writer.

For the last three decades, Gary Younge has sat ringside with the most significant personalities to impact the black diaspora and been on the frontline of historic events. He has witnessed the possibilities of change and the power of systems to thwart those aspirations. Dispatches from the Diaspora is an unrivalled body of work from a unique perspective that compels you to ‘imagine a world in which you might thrive, for which there is no evidence. And then fight for it.’

For the last three decades Gary Younge has had a ringside seat during the biggest events and with the most significant personalities to impact the black diaspora: accompanying Nelson Mandela on his first election campaign, joining revellers on the southside of Chicago during Obama’s victory, entering New Orleans days after hurricane Katrina or interviewing Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Maya Angelou and Stormzy. He has witnessed how much change is possible and the power of systems to thwart those aspirations.

Dispatches from the Diaspora is an unrivalled body of work from a unique perspective that takes you to the frontlines and compels you to engage and to ‘imagine a world in which you might thrive, for which there is no evidence. And then fight for it.’