Join author Jacqueline Crooks in conversation with Desiree Reynolds to celebrate the publication of her debut novel, Fire Rush.

The event will initially be broadcast on 15 March at 6.30pm UK time. It will be available to view up to two weeks after the event has ended and can be accessed Worldwide. If you live in a time zone that does not suit the initial broadcast time you can watch it at any point after the initial showing for two weeks.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

Fire Rush is an electrifying, state-of-the-nation novel about dub reggae, love, loss and freedom. This deeply important book is a rich portrait of Black womanhood filled with musicality that moves and enchants everyone that reads it.

Yamaye lives for the weekend, when she can go raving with her friends at the Crypt, an underground club in the industrial town on the outskirts of London where she was born and raised. A young woman unsure of her future, the sound is her guide – a chance to discover who she really is in the rhythms of those smoke-filled nights. In the dance-hall darkness, dub is the music of her soul, her friendships, her ancestry.

But everything changes when she meets Moose, the man she falls deeply in love with, and who offers her the chance of freedom and escape. When their relationship ends, Yamaye goes on a dramatic journey of transformation that takes her first to Bristol – where she is caught up in a criminal gang and the anti-police riots sweeping the country – and then to Jamaica, where past and present collide with explosive consequences.

For this virtual event, Jacqueline and Desiree will discuss the songs, food and real historical events that helped to shape Fire Rush. Don’t miss this brilliant event.