Interview with Emily Kenway, author of The Truth About Modern Slavery
Emily Kenway, author of The Truth About Modern Slavery, recommends a great range of books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Emily's book:
Review from Waterstones:
In 2019, over 10,000 possible victims of slavery were found in the UK. From men working in Sports Direct warehouses for barely any pay, to teenaged Vietnamese girls trafficked into small town nail bars, we're told that modern slavery is all around us, operating in plain sight.
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The Truth About Modern Slavery
But is this really slavery, and is it even a new phenomenon? Why has the British Conservative Party called it 'one of the great human rights issues of our time', when they usually ignore the exploitation of those at the bottom of the economic pile? The Truth About Modern Slavery reveals how modern slavery has been created as a political tool by those in power. It shows how anti-slavery action acts as a moral cloak, hiding the harms of the 'hostile environment' towards migrants, legitimising big brands' exploitation of the poorest workers and oppressing sex workers.
Blaming the media's complicity, rich philanthropists' opportunism and our collective failure to realise the lies we're being told, The Truth About Modern Slavery provides a vital challenge to conventional narratives on modern slavery.
Buy On:
Waterstones £14.99
Wordery $17.97
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
Revolting Prostitutes by Juno Mac and Molly Smith is definitely one of my all time favourites - it's a brilliantly researched, passionate exploration of sex workers' rights. I've recommended it to many people and it's been transformative for so many readers, waking people up to the reality of sex workers' lives and the desperate need to give (mainly) women rights and protections.
Review From Waterstones:
How the law harms sex workers--and what they want instead Do you have to endorse prostitution in order to support sex worker rights? Should clients be criminalized, and can the police deliver justice?
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Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights
In Revolting Prostitutes, sex workers Juno Mac and Molly Smith bring a fresh perspective to questions that have long been contentious. Speaking from a growing global sex worker rights movement, and situating their argument firmly within wider questions of migration, work, feminism, and resistance to white supremacy, they make it clear that anyone committed to working towards justice and freedom should be in support of the sex worker rights movement.
Buy On:
Waterstones £9.99
Wordery $11.81
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
I've recently been reading a lot about care as research for a possible second book. So my most recent read was Labours of Love: The Crisis of Care by Madeleine Bunting. Sadly, I didn't love it - it ended up being too fractured and became dominated by quotes from other literature on care, losing its own thread and meaning. I'd rate it 2.5/5.
Review From Book Depository:
We're facing a crisis in care likely to affect every one of us over the course of our lives. Care-work is underpaid; its values disregarded. Britain's society lauds economic growth, productivity and profit over compassion, kindness and empathy. For centuries the caring labours of women have been taken for granted, but with more women now in work, with increasing numbers of elderly and with austerity dismantling the welfare state, care is under pressure as never before.
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Labours of Love: The Crisis of Care
Over five years, Madeleine Bunting travelled the country, speaking to charity workers, doctors, social workers, in-home carers, nurses, palliative care teams and parents, to explore the value of care, the hidden glue that binds us together. She finds remarkable stories, in GP surgeries, in work undertaken by parents for their disabled children and in end-of-life teams, that conjure a different way of imagining our society and the connections between us. Blending these revelatory testimonies with a history and language of care, and with Bunting's own experiences of caring for the young and old in her family, Labours of Love is a hugely important portrait of our nation today - and of how it might be - which raises a clarion call for change.
Buy On:
Book Depository €16.87
Waterstones £14.99
Wordery $20.11
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
I adored one called The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo - I should re-read it actually, it would be lovely to revisit. It's a magical quest story, beautifully written and riffing on mythology which is something I still love today.
Review From Waterstones
It is a tale woven with ancient folklore and magic, one that reflects the author’s love of the Welsh landscape.
When Gwyn is given five mysterious birthday gifts by his grandmother, they give him access to a new and fantastic universe; a universe that will endow Gwyn with ancient magical powers and may even help him to find his missing sister Bethan.
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The Snow Spider
Buy On:
Easons €19.57
Waterstones £6.99
Wordery $9.52
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
Paper, by a long way. I do have an e-reader for holidays as it's so much lighter, but I vastly prefer the experience of a real book. I've never listened to an audiobook - for me, reading is indivisible from seeing the words on the page, it's part of experiencing the craft, the rhythm of the sentence, taking in the whole phrase etc. As a writer, that's important to me, because I choose each word and sentence carefully.
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
I love finding little independent bookshops when I'm away from London where I live currently - coming upon a treasure like Penrallt Gallery Bookshop in Machynlleth, Wales is a delight. But when I'm in the city, I really love Waterstones in Piccadilly. It's huge and elegant and has a sort of ceremonial feel because of its age and architecture. I can't wait to spend hours browsing there once COVID passes.
Many thanks to Emily for recommending a great range of books! Please don't forget to check out her book The Truth About Modern Slavery.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: Pluto Press (The Truth About Modern Slavery), Verso Books (Revolting Prostitutes), Granta Books (Labours of Love), Egmont UK Ltd (The Snow Spider).
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