Jenny Zhang analyzes cultural appropriation in 90s fashion, recalling her own pain and confusion as a teenager trying to fit in.

Chigozie Obioma unpacks an Igbo proverb that helped him navigate his journey to America from Nigeria.

In this much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling UK edition, hailed by Zadie Smith as 'lively and vital,' editors Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman hand the microphone to an incredible range of writers whose humanity and right to be here is under attack. And maybe they’ll fill you with hope too.An urgent collection of essays by first and second-generation immigrants, exploring what it's like to be othered in an increasingly divided America.įrom Trump's proposed border wall and travel ban to the marching of White Supremacists in Charlottesville, America is consumed by tensions over immigration and the question of which bodies are welcome. Against the apocalyptic backdrop 2016 has provided us with, our stories prove we are still full of ideas and aspirations. What they all have in common are their essential insights into what it means to be young in Britain right now. Some have been chosen from Rife Magazine, Bristol’s youth magazine for 13-19 year olds, mentored by Nikesh and produced by Watershed, and some have been chosen for their outstanding contributions to a spectrum of crucial conversations. The writers, all under 24 and selected from all over the UK, include Ella Marshall, Liv Little, Amber Kirk-Ford, Rosalind Jana, Ailsa Fineron and many more. Oi, editors! What are you so scared of? Why aren’t you commissioning us?Īs usual, it looks like it’s up to us to commission ourselves.Ĭurated by author and editor of The Good Immigrant, Nikesh Shukla and journalist/ Rife alumna Sammy Jones, Rife: 20 Stories From Britain's Youth collects twenty young people’s essays about money, mental health, sex, gender, equality, education, crime and the future. The voice of this generation is noticeably absent from mainstream media, online comment pieces and from news reports.

As university fees rise, job opportunities dry up and houses get more expensive, we are facing an ever-expanding chasm of doubt, instability and, basically, buckling down for a really, really rough time for the rest of our lives. 52% of all people under 25 have looked for advice on homelessness. One in four people under 25 will be affected by mental illness.

If you think that’s all a bit in your face, you should know that it’s never been harder to be young, so it’s no wonder we’re angry. We, Britain’s young people, have to live with the repercussions of what the oldies have done - we didn’t vote for Brexit, we didn’t vote in Theresa May, and you know what? We’re sick of being talked about instead of talked to. The country is messed up and our future is looking gloomy.

The good immigrant