Margaret recommends:
Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay
Red Dust Road saw me through the first few weeks of lockdown. We have a bike that has been converted to an exercise bike. I found that since I didn’t have to hold on to the handlebars I could read and cycle at the same time. Jackie’s book was ideal and I would often cycle for longer than I had intended as I wanted to finish a chapter. Since finishing the book I haven’t done as much cycling.
I grew up in Glasgow around the same time as Jackie so a lot of her writing rang a bell. Glasgow was not very diverse in those days and it made me think about the racism that Jackie experienced. Coincidentally I saw that Jackie has just done a video announcing the winners of national poetry competition for young people. Jackie was wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “I’ve got a friend from the Dominican Republic”. In the book she tells a story about this. I love her sense of humour, honesty and genuine warmth. Scotland is lucky to have Jackie Kay.
Comments are closed.