SPEAKERS
Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason
Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Bernadine Evaristo

VENUE NOTE
An Evening with Sheku and Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason

Celebrate the publication of two powerful and inspiring books by members of Britain’s most musical family in a discussion chaired by Bernardine Evaristo.

In her new book To Be Young, Gifted and Black, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason presents an impassioned defence of Black excellence in the arts.

Through the experiences of her extraordinarily gifted family, she reveals profound and candid insights about what it means – and how it feels – to grow up as a young Black artist in these turbulent times, and searches for a powerful and hopeful way forward.

The transformative power of music is at the centre of everything cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason does. But how was it that someone like him – a person of colour from a state school in Nottingham – rose to the upper echelons of the classical music world? In The Power of Music, he reflects on the obstacles he had to overcome, and which a young person might follow in his footsteps today.

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason is a former lecturer at Birmingham University and the mother of seven children.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason shot to fame as the winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition, the first Black musician to win the award since its launch in 1978. In the Queen’s 2020 New Year’s Honours, he was awarded an MBE for his services to music.

Bernardine Evaristo is the author of ten books. Her prizes include the Booker Prize 2019 and the one-off Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award 2025.

Presented in association with the Royal Society of Literature.