Author and food critic Jimi Famurewa has spent his career working at the intersection of food, community and culture. During that time he has become fascinated by the questions of identity: what makes a Londoner? What is it to be Black, African and British? And how can we understand the many tangled roots of our city without knowing the stories of how it came to be?

On June 5, Jimi Famurewa comes to the Intelligence Squared stage to recount the history of African migration to London and explain how it has shaped the city. He will talk about an often overlooked part of Black British heritage, beginning with post-1960s migration from African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Somalia. Those migrants’ children and grandchildren have since unleashed a wave of creativity and cultural production that connects Lambeth to Lagos, Islington to the Ivory Coast.

Drawing from his latest book, Settlers: Journeys through the Food, Faith and Culture of Black African London, Famurewa will take us from bustling marketplaces to restaurants, from places of worship to far-flung grammar schools, and from back alleys to suburbs as he examines the history and culture of one of Britain’s most vibrant diaspora communities.

Join us at the Pleasance Theatre for a fascinating discussion on diaspora, food, and the fabric of London.

Praise for Settlers

‘Jimi brings modern black London alive like no other author. This feels like an important book that is also a total pleasure to read.’ Sathnam Sanghera

‘Settlers is a testament to Jimi Famurewa’s love not just for his lineage, but for the culture. An incisive, intimate and profound work.’ Candice Carty-Williams