The Art of Opposition by Courttia Newland review – piercing essays on culture and creativity

The novelist issues a inspiring call for artists to exercise their autonomy in a world of gatekeepersIn 1988, the late Ghanaian writer and filmmaker Kwesi Owusu edited Storms of the Heart: An Anthology of Black Arts & Culture, a collection of writings and images by Black artists in Britain, including Ben Okri on Shakespeare, Shobana Jeyasingh on Indian dance theatre, Jacob Ross on decolonising language, an interview with Ntozake Shange, and early pieces from the artist Sonia Boyce. Its intention was to document the advances made in Black diasporic arts in postwar Britain, to give voice to the creative and political concerns of practitioners, and importantly, to push back against the routine ghettoisation and marginalisation of their work. As a young writer aware of such realities, it was a huge inspiration for me.Courttia Newland’s essay collection The Art of Opposition is entirely his own work, but it has a similar impact, mainly because of its provision of a space for Blac