Caleb Azumah Nelson and Melissa Thompson
British Library, London.
Saturday 25 May 16:30 - 17:30 British Library Piggott Theatre
Join one of Britain most exciting authors, on the place of food in his writing and community. Part of the Food Season Big Weekend and the British Library Food Season 2024.
More information about Caleb Azumah Nelson and Melissa Thompson tickets
Sponsored by Caleb Azumah Nelson’s novels Open Water and Small Worlds focus on the lives of British Ghanaian young people in London. his work is rich and evocative, drawing in myriad experiences - of love, pain, music and home; of race and belonging. 
One of the central themes that runs through his novels is food. Food as nourishment, as a means to celebrate and to bring people together. A food shop as a place of sanctuary and symbol of gentrification, and family gatherings rooted around a barbecue.
Caleb joins food writer, author and Food Season co-director Melissa Thompson to speak of the significance of food in his work, and in the Black British experience. How certain dishes evoke a sense of home, and how food and longing can be so intertwined.
Included in Food Season Big Weekend Saturday or Weekend tickets, or available to book as a single session. Discounts available for over 60s and BL Members and half-price tickets for students and under 26s
Caleb Azumah Nelson is a British-Ghanaian writer, photographer and filmmaker living in South East London. His first novel, Open Water, won the Costa First Novel Award and Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards, and was a number-one Times bestseller. His second novel, Sunday Times Bestseller Small Worlds, is out now.
Melissa Thompson is an award-winning food writer and live fire cook.Her debut cookbook, Motherland, was published in September 202 and the evolution of Jamaican food, from the island’s indigenous population to today alongside the recipes. She has penned powerful articles on the British food industry that became focal points for important discussions around identity, diversity and inclusivity. She has won the Guild of Food Writers’ Food Writing award and was named PPA’s Food Writer of the Year. She is a panellist on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet, is a columnist for BBC Good Food magazine and regular recipe writer for The Guardian.
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