Black Girl, No Magic, Kimberly McIntosh
‘Witty, fresh and full of life’ - Liv Little, founder of gal-dem
Kimberly McIntosh has lived a full life, with a loving family, messy friendships, mind-expanding travel and all-night parties. She's also spent that life wondering why such opportunities aren't always available to people who look like her.
Stemming from years of social policy research and campaign work, this essay collection brings together all that Kimberly has learned; whether that's dismantling the myth of social mobility for those who toe the line, to understanding why her teenage Facebook posts are quite so cringe. In it, she uses her own experiences to reveal how systematic injustice impacts us all, from the pressure of nuclear families, to enduring toxic friendships, to how painful it can be to watch Love Island.
Perfect for fans of Slay In Your Lane, Trick Mirror, and Bad Feminist, this dazzling debut collection brilliantly melds the personal and political to not only tell the story of a life, but what that life might teach us.
Kimberly McIntosh reading from Black Girl, No Magic
Smart, accessible, thoughtful, entertaining and frank: our Book of the Week is Black Girl, No Magic by Kimberly McIntosh. Informed by years of social policy research and campaign work, as well as her own personal experiences, this debut essay collection investigates the intersection of race and class in the UK. She discusses dismantling the myth of social mobility for those who conform to expectations, how systematic injustice impacts us all, and many other urgent questions.
Don’t worry if you’re not an expert on any of the above; this is a great place to start no matter your background.
A book for fans of Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino and Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, Black Girl, No Magic by Kimberly McIntosh is published by The Borough Press and available now.
Damian Barr’s Literary Salon is where the freshest debuts and the biggest bestsellers read for the first time from their latest greatest books and share their own personal stories.
Enjoy the Literary Salon podcast's Book of the Week where each bite-sized episode offers an exclusive taster of a new book. World premieres include Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain, Maddie Mortimer's Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies and Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait. You're going to love it.
Hosted by writer and broadcaster, Damian Barr, produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman and programmed by Matt Casbourne.
Subscribe and download the episode, wherever you get your podcasts.
