The Good Immigrant

21 writers reflect on race in contemporary Britain

Nikesh Shukla

• Publisher: Canongate Canons
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781837266234
• Subtopic: Literary Essays
• Index: Literature

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE 'BOOKS ARE MY BAG' READER'S CHOICE AWARD

'A must-read' ZADIE SMITH
'Phenomenal' MALORIE BLACKMAN
'If I could, I'd push a copy if this through the letterbox of every front door in Britain' INDEPENDENT

Fearless, challenging, playful, moving and always real, this groundbreaking essay collection sees 21 leading writers of colour explore the realities of the immigrant experience in Britain. What it means to grow up and live in a country and still be made to feel like an outsider, no matter how long it's been your home.

When it was first published, The Good Immigrant lit a fire: telling the truth, starting conversations and irrevocably changing how we talk about race. But the work is far from done, and its wisdom is needed now more than ever.

Here are 21 of our most vital voices, urging you to listen, care – and resist.

Table of contents

• Cover
• About the Authors
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Editor’s Note
• Introduction
• Namaste
• A Guide to Being Black
• My Name is My Name
• Yellow
• Kendo Nagasaki and Me
• Window of Opportunity
• Is Nish Kumar a Confused Muslim?
• Forming Blackness Through a Screen
• Beyond ‘Good’ Immigrants
• ‘You Can’t Say That! Stories Have to Be About White People’
• On Going Home
• Flags
• Cutting Through (On Black Barbershops and Masculinity)
• Wearing Where Your‘e at: Immigration and UK Fashion
• Airports and Auditions
• Perpetuating Casteism
• Shade
• The Wife of a Terrorist
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Tokenism
• Death is a Many-Headed Monster
• The Ungrateful Country
• Afterword
• Acknowledgements
• Supporters