New Beacon Books, 76 Stroud Green Road London N4 3ENJoin us for a lively chat between Dr Darren Chetty and K.N. Chimbiri & book-signing at New Beacon Books!
FREE but very limited places. Click here to reserve your spot!
Kandace Chimbiri is an author, speaker and educator. She primarily writes Black history books for children and young readers; she has also written for film, published articles and contributed to a Black British history anthology. She is the author of The Story of the Windrush; The Story of Afro Hair, 5,000 Years of History, Fashion and Styles; The Story of Britain’s Black Nurses; and The Story of Britain’s Black Airmen.
Dr Darren Chetty is a writer and a lecturer at UCL, and former primary school teacher. He contributed to the bestselling book, The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla. Darren co-authored, with Karen Sands O’Connor, Beyond the Secret Garden? Racially Minoritised People in British Children’s Books (English Media Centre) based on their regular column for Books for Keeps. In May 2025 Darren’s debut picture book, illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat, I’m going to Make a Friend, will be published.
I’m so thrilled to share the brilliant news that The Story of Afro Hair has been longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2023 in the 3 – 14+age category.
The books selected for the award are titles that teachers can share with pupils as part of regular classroom experience. The prestigious UKLA Book Awards are the only national awards judged entirely by teachers.
I’m so delighted that my book celebrating the biology and history of Afro hair from ancient to modern times has been chosen as Indie Book of the Month. This means the book will be will be displayed at every independent bookshop throughout UK and Eire.
I’ve been self-publishing children’s Black history books since 2009. Now feels the right time to work with a mainstream publisher to make these much-needed stories more readily available. I’m looking forward to working with Scholastic UK.
© 2023 Kandace Chimbiri. All Rights Reserved. Photography by Warren Linton.