A prolific and successful playwright who confines his themes to African American culture... August Wilson widened the space for African American theatre and controlled it for some twenty-fve years. The level of his achievement is high. This comes powerfully into view when the play is read, an activity for me that is equal to, and in some ways more fruitful than, seeing its stage production.

August Wilson has established himself as the richest theatrical voice to emerge in the U.S. since Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller

Wilson is a major writer, combining a poet's ear for vernacular with a robust sense of humor, a sure sense for crackling dramatic incident, and a passionate commitment to a great subject

The strongest, most passionate American dramatic writing since Tennessee Williams

Wilson is a consummate storyteller

A genuine work of art

A blockbuster piece of theater, a major American play

A moving story line and a hero almost Shakespearean in contour

In his work, August Wilson depicted the struggles of black Americans with uncommon lyrical richness, theatrical density and emotional heft, in plays that give vivid voices to people on the frayed margins of life

Sure to be a best-seller, this debut novel looks set to make big waves and is the perfect read for people looking to hear a familiar story told from an entirely new and fresh perspective.

If you've been looking for a novel that spins its plot around history, love, racism, ambition, faith, friendship and the sometimes crushing expectations of family, call off the search ... I've struggled with my attention span when it comes to reading during the third lockdown but this had me absolutely hooked ... incredibly skillful. I can't wait to see what she does next.

Zayyan brings attention to a period of history that many may be unaware of and reckons with some of the real world consequences of colonialism in an interesting and personalised way. It is a brave book in those terms ... we also witness some very believable and relatable instances of modern day racism as well as a strong and interesting account of how he struggles to balance his way of life with the wishes of his parents ... Zayyan writes very well ... in Sameer she writes a complex, interesting character who makes sense as a product of his life circumstances ... We Are All Birds of Uganda does tell stories that I haven't often read before, and brings attention to parts of history that really need to be focused on in our current climate.

Rapper Stormzy's favourite debut soars by asking: Who are we - and how do we belong?

On the evidence of this book, which is set in England and Uganda, [Zayyan] is an exciting new literary talent.

[A] tender, beautifully written read ... This remarkably accomplished debut is a moving tale of love and loss, told between two continents over a troubled century.

Zayyan's novel is emotive, multi-layered and makes for necessary reading.

From the moment the Afrori Team saw this book we were captivated. It is one of the most remarkable debut novels we have come across. A book you will not forget.

...It's a complex and delicately flavoured dish to be savoured and digested slowly.

Impressive and admirable.

Beautiful.

So brilliant, moving and just prescient for today that I just want to keep on waffling about it.

A truly thought provoking novel which makes you wonder and question yourself and the world long after putting it down. A real success.

A stirring exploration of love and displacement.

A remarkably accomplished, polished debut.

One of the hottest titles right now, Jennie Fagan's Luckenbooth has won all round acclaim.

The novel unfolds like a set of dark short stories, with a different character narrating or guiding each one. But there's a twist: Luckenbooth is not just haunted by the realities of time and history, but also by the strong musk of the gothic imagination ... Thickly worked and carefully assembled, the novel functions as a claustrophobic chiller and as a testament to lives led beyond the margins and in the shadows.

Luckenbooth ... is littered with lines like this. The sort of lines that demand to be read and reread: splendid in isolation, electric in combination. Fagan writes with drama. She can pick out the fine detail, in neat brush strokes, no doubt, but it is in drawing her arm back and attacking a story with great, sweeping lyricism that she propels Luckenbooth forward, dragging the reader through the 20th century, as experienced by a compelling cast of characters.

Slips and slides through layers of history, tears in the fabric of time and a series of strange shape shifting characters - it's a wonderful work that is a trip into a spectral interzone but also staged in a warped reality - great writing and a major talent.

A novel for readers with sophisticated tastes.

Uniquely gripping visions of the hidden social, economic and spiritual forces at play in 20th-century Edinburgh.

Dazzlingly ambitious.

As sexy and horrifying as any fairy story, it is a book concerned, not only with a structure, but with structures: alphabetical, architectural, societal, what they are built upon and how they crumble

Prize-winning author Jenni Fagan does not disappoint with her latest novel, Luckenbooth, which is easily her most compelling yet. In her usual poetic style, Fagan tells of a nine-storey Edinburgh tenement just off the Royal Mile that is creaking with secrets. Throughout this haunting novel, characters' secrets and memories live on in the howling gales of the spirit world, desperate to re-enter their lives. The narrative takes us through eight decades - from 1910 to 1999 - working its way up all nine floors of the building in hopscotch fashion, allowing for an intriguing interpretation of 20th-century life in the capital. Prepare to be transported into a Fagan's weird and wonderful imagination. It is a whirlwind read and one that I could not put down until the final page had turned.

As sexy and horrifying as any fairy story, it is a book concerned, not only with a structure, but with structures: alphabetical, architectural, societal, what they are built upon and how they crumble.

An Edinburgh tenement building is haunted by tall stories and unnerving strangers, from William Burroughs to the devil's daughter, in this weird and wonderful gothic confection.

Her "world building" is highly effective, and each character fully inhabits their decade. Fagan's writing is anchored in societal issues, the wrongs done and the ways individuals have challenged those wrongs and asserted their individuality and sexuality in ways that might make them seem misfits, outcasts. Fagan certainly pulls no punches and is determined that these passionate, authentic stories should not be confined to the periphery.

A deliciously weird gothic horror

An ambitious and ravishing novel that will haunt me long after