ARC Review | A Change Is Gonna Come Anthology

change book

Title: A Change Is Gonna Come

Author: Various

Publisher: Stripes

Publication Date: August 10th 2017

Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

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Featuring top Young Adult authors alongside a host of exciting new talent, this anthology of stories and poetry from BAME writers on the theme of change is a long-overdue addition to the YA scene. Contributors include Tanya Byrne, Inua Ellams, Catherine Johnson, Patrice Lawrence, Ayisha Malik, Irfan Master, Musa Okwonga and Nikesh Shukla.

Plus introducing four fresh new voices in YA fiction: Mary Bello, Aisha Bushby, Yasmin Rahman and Phoebe Roy.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review!

A Change Is Gonna Come is one of my most anticipated reads for the latter half of this year. Although the anthology features a host of already established BAME authors, it was my first time reading anything by the majority of its contributors. I particularly enjoyed reading the short stories from the four new voices; Aisha Bushby, Phoebe Roy, Mary Bello and Yasmin Rahman. The combined talent is outstanding.

The anthology is made up of short stories that each respond to the theme of change, as well as two poems that are placed at the beginning and the end. Each piece interprets the theme in a unique way, allowing for a diverse collection of writing that deals with other important and timely issues.

As with all anthologies, there were some pieces I didn’t particularly enjoy and others which I loved and could really relate to. Nikesh Shukla’s We Who? deals with racism in the wake of Brexit, Ayisha Malik’s The Refuge is an inspiring tale of friendship set in a refugee camp, and Yasmin Rahman’s Fortune Favours The Bold is a timely response to recent Islamophobic attacks. Mary Bello’s Dear Asha will also speak to many readers that belong to the diaspora.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this anthology and my only criticism is that I wish it, or at least some of the pieces within it, were much longer.