BLF: The Big Payback

Birmingham Literature Festival: The Big Payback with Marcus Ryder

When slavery was abolished two centuries ago the British government paid huge amounts of compensation to slave-owners; a debt British taxpayers only stopped paying off in 2015. In The Big Payback, Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder investigate what is owed to the descendants of the slave trade, who continue to be subject to inequality and racism across the world.

Their book asks questions about how and why slave traders were compensated, but the enslaved and their families were not and whether the descendants of slaveowners should continue to benefit from inherited wealth.

Join us for a conversation with Marcus Ryder about how reparations could work and how we could make them happen.

Running time approx. one hour