Learning the lessons of Britain’s multicultural history

Between the end of World War Two and the early twenty-first century, the UK became the diverse society we live in today. In his book, Multicultural Britain, acclaimed historian Kieran Connell takes readers into multicultural communities across the country.

Exploring the messy contradictions of the last eighty years, Connell reveals the ordinary people who forged our multicultural country, exposes the leaders who constantly weaponise race for their own political ends, and reveals the shifting nature of British racism and its enduring impact on our society.

This is a timely conversation foregrounded against a landscape of increasing intolerance, immigration anxiety and racially-motivated riots. Join Kieran Connell and Suresh Ariaratnam, as they discuss the rich and complex lived reality of British multiculturalism.

Read our interview with Kieran Connell here: 

Learning the Lessons of Britain’s Multicultural History

Kieran Connell is an internationally acclaimed writer and historian of Irish and German heritage. He was born and brought up in Birmingham and currently teaches history at Queen’s University Belfast. Connell contributes to the Guardian, the Irish Times, the New Statesman, the Tablet, and other publications. His first book, Black Handsworth: Race in 1980s Britain (2019), was shortlisted for the Royal Historical Society’s Whitfield Prize. Alongside his writing, Connell has curated several photography exhibitions and in 2022 wrote and hosted a three-part podcast for BBC Sounds. His most recent book is Multicultural Britain: A People’s History (2024). 

Suresh Ariaratnam has worked in the creative industries for twenty-five years, primarily as a literary and talent agent, focussing on representing authors from Black and Asian communities. As a non-executive director for NHS Dorset HealthCare and NHS Somerset, he is especially interested in the broader socio-economic determinants of health and their relationship to inequalities, and in a holistic understanding of wellbeing which champions the interdependency between personal, societal, and planetary health. Suresh also serves as a co-chair of Literature Works, a trustee of Trussell, a director of Norland College, and a member of the British Library Advisory Council. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

This event is in partnership with Speaking Volumes as part of their Breaking Ground Ireland project funded by Arts Council England.

Image: © Janet Mendelsohn / Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham

News on how Kieran Connell has been nominated for the Wolfson Prize:

Not one but two BRLSI speakers nominated for the Wolfson Prize!