Paula Akpan is a historian and journalist. Her writing has appeared in British Vogue, Teen Vogue, The Independent, The i Paper, VICE, GAY TIMES, The Bookseller, DIVA Magazine, i-D and more. Her essays have featured in Loud Black Girls, The Queer Bible and The Black History Book.

Paula holds a BA in Sociology and an MA in Black British History. Her MA dissertation examined the personal, interpersonal and political development of Black lesbian identity in the UK, 1978-1996. She’s (slowly) working on an app that will aid Black queer travellers as they navigate the globe.

Paula lives in London with her fiancée and their cats. When We Ruled: The Rise And Fall of 12 African Queens and Warriors is her first book.

About your host: I’m Dorothy Koomson, award-winning, bestselling author. You can find out more here: www.dorothykoomson.co.uk/contact-me

And you can buy my latest book, Give Him To Me here: https://geni.us/DK_GiveHimToMe

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

Louise Minchin and Isolation Island

Louise Minchin is most famous for her twenty-year stint on BBC Breakfast's red sofa, but she has also been the main news anchor on the BBC News Channel and the BBC's One O'clock News and presented The One Show, Five Live Drive, Real Rescues and Missing Live. She’s also participated in a number of reality TV shows including ITV's I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, Channel 4's Time Crashers, BBC's Celebrity MasterChef and Celebrity Gladiators. She is now a presenter of Rip Off Britain on BBC One.

Louise has written two non-fiction titles, Dare to Tri and Fearless, and she was Chair of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023. Isolation Island is her debut novel. Find Louise on Insta: @louiseminchin or visit: www.louiseminchin.com

About your host: I’m Dorothy Koomson, award-winning, bestselling author. You can find out more here: www.dorothykoomson.co.uk/contact-me

And you can buy my latest book, Give Him To Me here: https://geni.us/DK_GiveHimToMe

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

Kit de Waal and The Best of Everything

Kit de Waal was born in Birmingham to an Irish mother and a Caribbean father. She worked for fifteen years in criminal and family law, was a magistrate for several years and sits on adoption panels. She used to advise Social Services on the care of foster children, and has written training manuals on adoption, foster care and judgecraft for members of the judiciary. Her writing has received numerous awards including the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize 2014 and 2015 and the SI Leeds Literary Reader's Choice Prize 2014 and the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year. MY NAME IS LEON, her first novel was published in 2016 and shortlisted for the Costa Book Award. She has two children and lives in the West Midlands.

Find out more about Kit and The Best of Everything at: https://www.kitdewaal.com/

About your host: I’m Dorothy Koomson, award-winning, bestselling author. You can find out more here: www.dorothykoomson.co.uk/contact-me

And you can buy my latest book, Give Him To Me here: https://geni.us/DK_GiveHimToMe

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