'Sharp and still relevant' - Zadie Smith
'A mosaic of wise, urgent and moving pieces' - Kit de Waal
'A book to be savoured and re-read' - Derek Owusu
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Recognized as one of the great poets of modern times, and as a deeply respected and influential political and cultural activist and social critic, Linton Kwesi Johnson is also a prolific writer of non-fiction. In Time Come, he selects some of his most powerful prose – book and record reviews published in newspapers and magazines, lectures, obituaries and speeches – for the first time. Written over many decades, it is a body of work that draws creatively and critically on Johnson's own Jamaican roots and on Caribbean history to explore the politics of race that continue to inform the Black British experience.
Ranging from reflections on the place of music in Caribbean and Black British culture as a creative, defiant response to oppression, to his penetrating appraisals of music and literature, and including warm tributes paid to the activists and artists who inspired him to find his own voice as a poet and compelled him to contribute to the struggle for racial equality and social justice, Time Come is a panorama of an exceptional life. A collection that ventures into memoir, it underscores Johnson's enduring importance in Britain's cultural history and reminds us of his brilliant, unparalleled legacy.
With an introduction by Paul Gilroy
'An outstanding collection' - Caryl Phillips
'A necessary book from a writer who continues to inspire' - Yomi Sode
'Incisive, engaging, fearless' - Gary Younge LINTON KWESI JOHNSON, born in 1952, is a Jamaican-born reggae poet who came to the UK in 1963. Joining the Black Panthers whilst still at school, he has been a life-long activist fighting for racial equality and social justice. In 2002 he became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. He has recorded several albums, many on his own LKJ Records label, and has toured the globe. His most recent awards include the 2020 PEN Pinter Prize from English PEN and, in 2021, being appointed an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of the West Indies. LKJ lives in Brixton in south London. A dynamic selection of Linton Kwesi Johnson's most powerful prose writings, brought together for the first time.
