Brown

Kamal Al-Solaylee

Image | BOOK COVER: Brown by Kamal Al-Solaylee

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. In this new book by Kamal Al-Solaylee, whose bestselling Intolerable won the Toronto Book Award and was a finalist for Canada Reads(external link) and the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, 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. Brown people have emerged as the source of global cheap labour (Hispanics or South Asians) while also coming under scrutiny and suspicion for their culture and faith (Arabs and Muslims). To be brown is to be on the cusp of whiteness and on the edge of blackness.
Brown is packed with storytelling and on-the-street reporting conducted over two years in 10 countries from four continents that reveals a multitude of lives and stories from destinations as far apart as the United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Britain, Trinidad, France, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Qatar, the United States and Canada. (From HarperCollins)

Interviews

Media Audio | The Current : ENCORE: Author Kamal Al-Solaylee on how cheap labour shapes brown racial identity

Caption: When Kamal Al-Solaylee travelled to 10 countries to capture the experience of being brown, he concluded that a brown racial identity has been shaped by the cheap labour movement. His book Brown explores what being brown in today's world means to everyone.

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Media Audio | The Candy Palmater Show : Kamal Al-Solaylee on the meaning of 'brown'

Caption: When Kamal Al-Solaylee was nine, he began to take notice of the colour of his skin. And these experiences shaped his new book, 'Brown,' which explores the nuances of skin colour.

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Other books by Kamal Al-Solaylee

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