This course is an advanced introduction to the concept and key texts of ‘Black British literature.’ A term arising directly in response to empire and the postcolonial, Black British literature indicates texts written by both African- and South Asian- descended writers from the Caribbean, Africa, and the subcontinent. Focused primarily on the twentieth-century, we will contextualize this literary tradition within wider questions of Britain in the world and how the idea of literary influence is challenged and re-formed. Writers may include: Sam Selvon, Hanif Kureishi, Derek Walcott, Stuart Hall, Buchi Emecheta, Caryl Philips, Zadie Smith, Helen Oyeyemi, and Warsan Shire.