Désirée Reynolds
United Kingdom
The author, artist, DJ and journalist Désirée Reynolds, born in Clapham, London, focuses in her work on working-class Black women, their inner landscapes and the relentless struggle against the ubiquitous focus on the white man. As Writer in Residence at Sheffield City Archives, she developed the Dig Where You Stand Yorkshire project in 2021, which is based on an idea by the Swedish author Sven Lindqvist and encourages working-class people to research their own stories. Her approach is participatory.
In her work in archives, she specifically seeks out the histories of Black people, which are usually either not archived at all or only archived in a fragmentary manner. Her aim is to ensure that these gaps in the archives are acknowledged. The questions she raises go far beyond mere criticism of racism and structural inequality; through her approach of telling alternative stories, she also imagines alternative, more humane future scenarios.
Reynolds’ poems and short stories have been published in various anthologies. Her highly acclaimed first novel,
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31st Leukerbad International Literary Festival:
