A review by snoakes7001
Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers by Kit de Waal
5.0
Common People is an anthology of writing by people who all share a working class background. These are voices that are less commonly heard in the predominantly white middle class world of publishing.
The pieces cover a wide variety of experiences, childhood, sport (pool, darts, football and the dogs), and life in general. They are diverse in tone as well as theme and every author is one I would want to read again. Most are prose, but there are a couple of poems as well.
Here are some of my personal favourites:
Tough - the opening poem by Tony Walsh aka Longfella
Which Floor? by Loretta Ramkissoon - about living in a tower block and the communality that comes from sharing the lift
No Lay, No Pay by Paul Allen - about the blokey camaraderie of the building site
Passengers by Shaun Wilson - about his fledgling relationship with his half brother just out of prison
Dear Nobody by Alex Wheatle - an inspiring letter to his younger self
Black Cat Dreaming by Astra Bloom - a heart-rending story about a child's ruined dream
All in all it's a cracking collection of interesting & inspiring short reads.
The pieces cover a wide variety of experiences, childhood, sport (pool, darts, football and the dogs), and life in general. They are diverse in tone as well as theme and every author is one I would want to read again. Most are prose, but there are a couple of poems as well.
Here are some of my personal favourites:
Tough - the opening poem by Tony Walsh aka Longfella
Which Floor? by Loretta Ramkissoon - about living in a tower block and the communality that comes from sharing the lift
No Lay, No Pay by Paul Allen - about the blokey camaraderie of the building site
Passengers by Shaun Wilson - about his fledgling relationship with his half brother just out of prison
Dear Nobody by Alex Wheatle - an inspiring letter to his younger self
Black Cat Dreaming by Astra Bloom - a heart-rending story about a child's ruined dream
All in all it's a cracking collection of interesting & inspiring short reads.