Brown is a book by Kamal Al-Solaylee (So-LYE-lee), Canada Reads finalist, professor and journalist.
“Brown is not white. Brown is not black. Brown is an experience, a state of mind. Historically speaking, issues of race and skin colour have been interpreted along black and white lines, leaving out millions of people whose stories of migration and racial experiences have shaped our modern world. It fills in the narrative gap by taking a global look at the many social, political, economic and personal implications of being a brown-skinned person in the world now. To be brown is to be on the cusp of whiteness and on the edge of blackness,” from publicity by publisher Harper Collins.
The Octopus Books presentation was done in interview format in the spring of 2016, sponsored by Harper Collins Canada. The interview was done by Adrian Harewood of the CBC, whom you will hear first.
Thanks to Octopus Books for sending the talk to us to broadcast.
KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE, an assistant professor and undergraduate program director at the School of Journalism at Ryerson University, was previously a distinguished writer at Canada’s national newspaper The Globe and Mail. Al-Solaylee also worked at Report on Business magazine and has written features and reviews for the Toronto Star, National Post, The Walrus, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, EYE WEEKLY, Literary Review of Canada and ELLE Canada. Al-Solaylee holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham and has taught at the University of Waterloo and York University. Al-Solaylee lives in Toronto.
