Westminster is celebrating Black History Month this October, as part of the University’s Black History Year, with a series of stories to showcase its commitment to Black history. The series starts with alumna Avril Nanton and her new book on London’s Black history.
Avril, a former Westminster student of the Clerkenwell and Islington Guilding Association course, and co-author Jody Burton, recently released ‘Black London: History, Art & Culture in over 120 places’ which explores, records and focuses on Black people’s contribution to both local and global history, as well as Black art and culture.
Having previously trained as a tour guide in the Architect and Build department at Westminster, Avril’s book recognises and highlights people, places and stories that are often overlooked in mainstream guide-books and depicts their experiences in history.
Since graduating from the course at Westminster, Avril has conducted many tours across London which have become increasingly popular. Her tour of ‘Black Statues Around Westminster’ has gained a lot of positive attention as it takes people across 28 monuments which most people don’t recognise as representations of Black Londoners. Since then, she has created walks around the City of London, Hyde Park War Memorials, Tottenham and Islington, all of which have been documented in her book.
One of Avril’s main goals with the book was to look at various Black figures from history that readers may not have heard of or know much about. With it being in chronological and borough order, the book allows you to open it at any page and learn something now.
Following the release of ‘Black London’, Avril appeared on ITV local news, as well as on BBC Radio London’s Robert Elms show and London Live TV. She has also made guest appearances at various events to sign and talk about her book and will appear at book festivals and various speaking events across London.
Describing her new book, Avril said: “When a man is tired of London they say he is tired of life, but when a man is tired of London – he should read Black London where he will find a lot of new stories he’s never heard of!”
Find out more about Avril’s book and her tours across London on her website.
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