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On Sunday morning, the venue’s vast modern foyer will exchange its typical calm for a buzz of conversation and excitement, and a particular kind of creative atmosphere: Black British narrative arts in all its diversity.

Celebrating its fifth anniversary, the BBB festival has established itself as Europe’s most significant gathering of Black writing. Starting as a small, intimate gathering has developed into a national institution pulling in countless participants and prominent personalities in literature.

Established by the children’s author in that year, the festival stemmed from the writer’s frustration at being told that her book wouldn’t sell because there was a African-descent child on the jacket. Determined to establish a venue she was unable to locate elsewhere, Brown launched the debut gathering as a daylong celebration. After five years, it has grown into a annual artistic initiative, hosting multiple large events across the UK, opening libraries, working alongside the famous festival, and launching a children’s book festival fronted by the renowned actor.

“Black British literature has always been diverse, but frequently it has lacked the opportunity or support it merits,” says Brown. “The festival exists to transform that reality.”

The lineup for this annual primary festival at the venue features Jordan Stephens and prominent figures. The extensive schedule includes everything from policy dialogues to children’s storytelling, as well as expert conversations with prominent Black authors and sessions for aspiring writers. There are presentations on historical figures, sessions on getting published, and spaces where writers and readers can connect.

“It’s an complete celebration of Black intellect,” says Ryder, an advocate and co-founder of a diversity institute, who will be at the festival to explore his recent publication about compensation. “We often overlook the joy of Black innovation sufficiently.”

Too frequently we’re reacting to other people’s agendas. At this festival the focus is determined by Black people

“The UK Black identity is distinct in that you’re often struggling with a perceived idea of what Britishness is and how we belong,” states another speaker, recognized as being a member of a band, who is also leading an session at the festival. “So when you’re with people who have all been in that battle, you’re like, ‘Oh, this is actually really nice. It’s a feeling.’ It’s like a positive cycle, an interesting pattern.”

Although the event has prospered, the same can’t necessarily be said of the publishing landscape surrounding it. The surge after 2020 triggered by the racial equality campaigns now looks like a surge rather than a change.

The UK witnessed a significant increase in the sales of books by writers of colour in the fiscal year to 2021. Works such as a well-known factual work rose to the peak of the UK popular rankings, making its creator the initial Black British author to achieve that status. Industry firms raced to copy the formula.

However the momentum faded quickly. Recently, leading Black writers claimed that UK publishing is now harder to break into for Black authors than it was five years ago. Research found that the growth period “fell short of delivering the promised broadening of publishing’s output”. And in the latest news, a literacy charity highlighted a “dramatic decrease” in the quantity of kids’ literature showcasing Black leads, reduced by more than a 20% between recent years.

“It can be disheartening to examine the ebbs and flows of a system that lacks integrity and authenticity,” Stephens says. “It’s about popularity.”

For a commentator, the issue is obvious. “The publishing financial model is broken,” he says. “Publishers holds up a bestselling book, but the fact is that when it was published, it lost momentum, until the murder of a figure and the movement. We evidently have a system that does not favour what is now recognized as brilliant, Black literature.”

“A couple of seemingly conflicting trends are happening at the concurrently,” he notes. “The festival is growing really rapidly. And at the same time, lots of Black literature seems to be contracting. What that tells me is that there is a urgent requirement and a massive desire for community among people who appreciate Black literature. And what we need to do is strengthen that collective.”

He is not referring to the excellence of the writing, but the framework of an sector that still views it as niche. “If we accept that literature is a fundamental part of our democracy – which it is, because it’s disseminating thinking and disseminating it across the community – then we need to think about whether there needs to be public investment in it for marginalized communities,” he says. “Writing is so important to the nation, and relying on just the commercial interest to support its growth is not the way forward.”

For the speaker, this is what renders the event important: it exists outside that system, and isn’t dependent on companies to decide that Black literature is marketable. “Too frequently we are addressing other people’s interests,” he says. “While what’s wonderful about this festival is that it is the focus being set by Black people. It is the stories being shaped by Black people. And you so infrequently get spaces and opportunities to see that.”

In a time of rising social strain and cultural division in the UK, the festival has an more pronounced resonance. Recently experienced racist riots and radical rallies break out in towns and cities across England. A political party has surged in the ratings and symbols have been painted across public spaces. A new cultural consensus – anti-DEI, anti-migrant, “traditionalist” – is being forcefully declared in public spaces.

Look at the Harlem Renaissance: those writers weren’t