Hello, I'm Rihanna Dillon and this is The Penguin podcast with another Ask Penguin episode.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Every episode, we take you inside the action here at Penguin Books, where I go in search of the answers to all of your reading and publishing related questions.

From our very cozy, very book-filled studio, we'll chat with authors and editors finding out what makes them tick and what's on their reading list.

To send us a message or ask us a question, you can email PenguinPodcast at penguinrandomhouse.co.. Or click the link in the show description to go straight

to the podcast page. On that link, you'll also find details for all of the books we've talked about,

as well as transcripts for every episode. So don't worry if you don't have time to jot everything down.

We've done that for you. It's currently October in London,

which means that this episode coincides with one of the UK's most important cultural events, Black History Month.

Each year, this month is all about celebrating and commemorating moments in history, achievement and contributions that black people have made.

So to mark Black History Month here on Ask Penguin, I'm on a mission to discover some of the

trailblazing books by black authors that we should all know about.

Which means that I get to go and have a little wonder around the offices and speak to some of

the fabulous

people who work at Penguin. Let's go. Hi, I'm Lucy Anderson. I work in the social impact team in the

brand department. Brilliant. We're asking everybody today, what is your favourite book by a black author?

Oh, it's going to be so classic, but it's Mallory Blackman's Nauts and Crosses. I just absolutely

love it. I remember

reading it when I was younger and just thinking it was so well written and such an interesting perspective on the world. So yeah, it's got to be that one. So for those people who haven't read it, why did it have such an impact on you? I think it's just, it's, you know, it's part of love story which is when you're a teenager quite interesting to read but it's also set in sort of

I sort of see as a dystopian. just it's you know it's part of love story which is when you're a teenager quite interesting to

read but it's also set in sort of I sort of see as a dystopian world where roles are reversed

and you know you see it as like racism reversed and when when I read I remember thinking it just

...