The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho (In person and online)
During Black History Month, we’re delighted to welcome one of Britain’s best loved actors and writers, Paterson Joseph, whose captivating new historical novel brings to life an extraordinary real figure from Black British history, Charles Ignatius Sancho. Born on a slave ship, sometime in the 1720s, and orphaned soon after, Sancho went on to meet the King, write and play highly acclaimed music, have his portrait painted by Gainsborough, lead the fight to end slavery and, as the owner of a Mayfair grocery shop (just minutes away from The London Library), he became the first Black person to vote in Britain.
Performing from the novel and then in conversation with Dr Deirdre Osborne, co-founder of the MA Black British Literature, Goldsmiths University of London, Joseph reveals a larger-than-life character, integral to British history, whose story, hidden for almost 300 years, it is high time to tell.
'An absolutely thrilling, throat-catching wonder of a historical novel. I read with alternating fascination, dread, hilarity, admiration, sorrow and triumph for a full life rendered with such animation, brilliance and understanding.’ - Stephen Fry
Paterson Joseph’s on-screen credits including Vigil, Law and Order UK, Noughts and Crosses, Peep Show and Green Wing and theatre including A Christmas Carol (Old Vic), King Lear (RSC); and Elmina’s Kitchen, St Joan and Emperor Jones (National Theatre). His monodrama Sancho - An Act of Remembrance, toured to transatlantic acclaim, and he recently co-wrote and starred in Severus, a rollicking drama about Roman Britain's African Emperor, for BBC Radio Four. The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho is his debut novel.
Dr Deirdre Osborne Hon. FRSL, FRSA, is a Reader in English Literature and Drama at Goldsmiths University of London. Her research spans late-Victorian literature to contemporary periods. She edited the Cambridge Companion to British Black and Asian Literature (1945-2010) and is Associate Editor of Women's Writing. Her latest book is This is the Canon: Decolonise Your Bookshelf in Fifty Books with Joan Anim-Addo and Kadija Sesay and she is part of the editorial team for the Race Today Commemorative Special Issue 2022.
In association with MA Black British Literature, Goldsmiths University London
The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph is available to pre-order from our partner bookshop Hatchards.
N.B. This event will take place in person at The London Library in alignment with up-to-date government COVID recommendations. Please see our Event Access and COVID Guidelines before you arrive. Doors (and the bar) open at 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start. The event will be livestreamed through YouTube from 7.30pm and will be available to watch live or at any time after the event, using the same link.
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