Finding Albion: Zakia Sewell in Conversation with Emma Dabiri

In Finding Albion, Zakia uncovers an alternative spirit of Britain that is vividly alive today. It is found in otherworldly folk songs, ancient legends, Celtic seasonal rites and mystic stone circles that punctuate our landscape. Her journey begins as the sun rises on the spring equinox over Glastonbury Tor, where she meets neopagans reclaiming traditions from our pre-Christian past. At summer's peak at Notting Hill Carnival she hears cultural echoes that passed along the slave trade routes from the Caribbean. On All Hallow's Eve she encounters the ghosts of Empire that are still haunting the nation, and in the depths of a Cornish winter she asks if today's new folk revival could unite our increasingly divided country?

Zakia Sewell is a writer, DJ and broadcaster based in London. She hosts Dream Time on BBC Radio 6 Music, and used to host the flagship breakfast show on NTS Radio. For the past eight years she has been producing and presenting radio documentaries and podcasts for platforms such as BBC Radio 3 and 4, Tate and Camden Arts Centre. Her acclaimed four-part Radio 4 series My Albion was an inspiration for her book. Her writing has appeared in publications including Tate Etc., Resident Advisor and Weird Walk as well as in the essay collection This Woman's Work.

Emma Dabiri is a writer, broadcaster and educator. She was a teaching fellow in the African department at SOAS for over a decade and is a Visual Sociology PhD researcher at Goldsmiths in London. She is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller What White People Can Do Next (2021) and Don’t Touch My Hair (2019). She has presented several television and radio programmes, including BBC Radio 4’s documentaries Journeys into Afro-futurism and BBC 4’s Britain’s Lost Masterpieces. In 2023 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing. Your ticket includes a complimentary glass of wine.

Tickets: £10 General Admission, £8 Foyalty Member / £30 Book and Ticket, inc. a copy of Finding Albion (RRP £25)
Venue: The Auditorium (Level 6) at Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road*

*Please note that the Auditorium at Foyles is fully accessible from the Ground floor lifts.