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Sugar & Slate
A powerful, intimate memoir from writer and academic Charlotte Williams exploring the intertwined history of Wales, Africa and the Caribbean
As the daughter of a white Welsh-speaking mother and black father from Guyana, Charlotte Williams's childhood world was one of mixed messages dominated by the feeling that 'somehow to be half-Welsh and half Afro-Caribbean was to be half of something but never quite anything whole at all.'
Sugar and Slate tells the fascinating story of her journey of self-discovery, from the small north Wales town of her birth to Africa, the Caribbean and back to Wales. This is both a personal memoir and a story that speaks to the wider experience of mixed-race Britons. It is a story of Welshness and a story of Wales and above all a story for those of us who look over our shoulder across the sea to some other place.
A title in the Black Writing Back series - selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation.
As the daughter of a white Welsh-speaking mother and black father from Guyana, Charlotte Williams's childhood world was one of mixed messages dominated by the feeling that 'somehow to be half-Welsh and half Afro-Caribbean was to be half of something but never quite anything whole at all.'
Sugar and Slate tells the fascinating story of her journey of self-discovery, from the small north Wales town of her birth to Africa, the Caribbean and back to Wales. This is both a personal memoir and a story that speaks to the wider experience of mixed-race Britons. It is a story of Welshness and a story of Wales and above all a story for those of us who look over our shoulder across the sea to some other place.
A title in the Black Writing Back series - selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
200 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2002
12 people are currently reading
219 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Williams
17 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Charlotte Williams
Charlotte Williams OBE is a Welsh-Guyanese award-winning author, academic and cultural critic. Her writings span academic publications, memoir, short fiction, reviews, essays and commentaries. She is Emerita Professor at Bangor University and a member of the Learned Society of Wales. Her writings have taken her on travels worldwide but her heart and her home are always in Wales.
Please see: Charlotte Williams
Charlotte Williams OBE is a Welsh-Guyanese award-winning author, academic and cultural critic. Her writings span academic publications, memoir, short fiction, reviews, essays and commentaries. She is Emerita Professor at Bangor University and a member of the Learned Society of Wales. Her writings have taken her on travels worldwide but her heart and her home are always in Wales.
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March 17, 2023My thanks to Parthian Books for a review copy of this book via NetGalley.
Sugar and Slate, originally published in 2002, and now being republished by Parthian Books is academic and author Charlotte Williams’ memoir exploring her search for identity, belonging and home. Born to a White, Welsh mother, and Black Guyanese father, her mixed background meant feeling an outsider anywhere she went—in Africa (where her father worked for a time) and Guyana (where she lived for a time as an adult), she is thought of as too ‘white’ while in Wales, in the town in which she spent her childhood (Llandudno), being the only people of colour, she and her sisters were looked upon as something exotic, not those that belonged. While her childhood in Africa is largely carefree, the differences aren’t entirely away from her eye; back in Wales, there an urge to fit in, live as others do, followed by a rebellious phase; and later as an adult a more conscious effort at understanding her roots, through living in Guyana with her husband (who gets a chance to work there) and reconnecting with her father.
But Charlotte isn’t the only one in her family who struggles with this. Her father Denis Williams, author and artist, may have been born in Guyana but his education and thoughts make him very English leading to an unspoken internal struggle which he goes through for much of his life, between the two sides of his personality (the Western Lionel and the African Lobo as portrayed in his own book)—trying to break away from things Western, yet never quite being able to do so—at least not entirely. Her mother has a strong sense of belonging and roots in Wales, but in England (or later in Africa) she too is an outsider, never able to really fit. Amidst a life filled with movement (despite those periods of ‘settlement’ in one place or other), for Charlotte, it is her mother and movement itself which become home
It was movement that was home. Home was not a particular place for us in the very early years. Home was Ma.
Even when life becomes more settled, the search for ‘home’, a place to belong to continues, as also an attempt to understand and reconcile the two sides of herself. Lessons are learnt along the way, or things realised, for instance, her time in Guyana where she reconnects with her father showing her
… belonging can’t just be plucked off a tree like a juicy mango. History and attachment don’t just flow into your body like the deep breaths of warm air blowing across the black creek waters, that part of your identity can’t automatically fit you like the ‘I love Guyana’ tee-shirt you can buy anywhere on Main Street.
The difficulties, confusions and politics that lie at intersections of race and colour, the dynamics that affect relationships, all come to light, but ultimately there is also the realisation that behind all of these facades of colour and appearance, even culture, there might still be commonalities—common struggles, circumctances and problems which connect and which bind.
Alongside the exploration of identity and belonging at a personal level, Williams’ memoir is also about place. About Wales of course, north Wales more particularly where she grew up, and where she would return once again for it was home. We learn of of Welsh missionaries and their interactions with Africa and Guyana, of the early Blacks who came (or rather were brought) to Wales and for whom it became home, some of whom too struggled with homesickness and from being separated from their tribes, of the politics that went on to impact these lives when interracial marriages started to take place; and of the language politics that impacted Williams’ own relationship to Wales. Likewise, we get a glimpse of Guyana at the time, a society no longer colonised but dealing with numerous problems—poverty, lack of resources—and also as a result a newer form of colonisation through the expats and aid resources. (Having recently read something on the Indian diaspora in the Caribbean including Guyana, some of what she describes, places, culture and such were interesting to read about). The two seem so far apart, yet Williams finds how there is more shared than she first realises (not just the missionary history) as reflected in the book’s title—the exploitative sugar plantations in the latter and almost similarly exploitative slate industry in Wales.
This is a beautifully written memoir (combining prose and poetry and to a small extent art), which explores the complications and contradictions of identity and belonging, particularly for people of mixed backgrounds (but as one sees in her parents’ case, something that can equally be brought about by place and circumstances), but it is also a story of place and history, of the journeys we make to find ourselves, and of a realisation that there are deeper connections beneath the surface which bind more than we think.
4.5 stars
Sugar and Slate, originally published in 2002, and now being republished by Parthian Books is academic and author Charlotte Williams’ memoir exploring her search for identity, belonging and home. Born to a White, Welsh mother, and Black Guyanese father, her mixed background meant feeling an outsider anywhere she went—in Africa (where her father worked for a time) and Guyana (where she lived for a time as an adult), she is thought of as too ‘white’ while in Wales, in the town in which she spent her childhood (Llandudno), being the only people of colour, she and her sisters were looked upon as something exotic, not those that belonged. While her childhood in Africa is largely carefree, the differences aren’t entirely away from her eye; back in Wales, there an urge to fit in, live as others do, followed by a rebellious phase; and later as an adult a more conscious effort at understanding her roots, through living in Guyana with her husband (who gets a chance to work there) and reconnecting with her father.
But Charlotte isn’t the only one in her family who struggles with this. Her father Denis Williams, author and artist, may have been born in Guyana but his education and thoughts make him very English leading to an unspoken internal struggle which he goes through for much of his life, between the two sides of his personality (the Western Lionel and the African Lobo as portrayed in his own book)—trying to break away from things Western, yet never quite being able to do so—at least not entirely. Her mother has a strong sense of belonging and roots in Wales, but in England (or later in Africa) she too is an outsider, never able to really fit. Amidst a life filled with movement (despite those periods of ‘settlement’ in one place or other), for Charlotte, it is her mother and movement itself which become home
It was movement that was home. Home was not a particular place for us in the very early years. Home was Ma.
Even when life becomes more settled, the search for ‘home’, a place to belong to continues, as also an attempt to understand and reconcile the two sides of herself. Lessons are learnt along the way, or things realised, for instance, her time in Guyana where she reconnects with her father showing her
… belonging can’t just be plucked off a tree like a juicy mango. History and attachment don’t just flow into your body like the deep breaths of warm air blowing across the black creek waters, that part of your identity can’t automatically fit you like the ‘I love Guyana’ tee-shirt you can buy anywhere on Main Street.
The difficulties, confusions and politics that lie at intersections of race and colour, the dynamics that affect relationships, all come to light, but ultimately there is also the realisation that behind all of these facades of colour and appearance, even culture, there might still be commonalities—common struggles, circumctances and problems which connect and which bind.
Alongside the exploration of identity and belonging at a personal level, Williams’ memoir is also about place. About Wales of course, north Wales more particularly where she grew up, and where she would return once again for it was home. We learn of of Welsh missionaries and their interactions with Africa and Guyana, of the early Blacks who came (or rather were brought) to Wales and for whom it became home, some of whom too struggled with homesickness and from being separated from their tribes, of the politics that went on to impact these lives when interracial marriages started to take place; and of the language politics that impacted Williams’ own relationship to Wales. Likewise, we get a glimpse of Guyana at the time, a society no longer colonised but dealing with numerous problems—poverty, lack of resources—and also as a result a newer form of colonisation through the expats and aid resources. (Having recently read something on the Indian diaspora in the Caribbean including Guyana, some of what she describes, places, culture and such were interesting to read about). The two seem so far apart, yet Williams finds how there is more shared than she first realises (not just the missionary history) as reflected in the book’s title—the exploitative sugar plantations in the latter and almost similarly exploitative slate industry in Wales.
This is a beautifully written memoir (combining prose and poetry and to a small extent art), which explores the complications and contradictions of identity and belonging, particularly for people of mixed backgrounds (but as one sees in her parents’ case, something that can equally be brought about by place and circumstances), but it is also a story of place and history, of the journeys we make to find ourselves, and of a realisation that there are deeper connections beneath the surface which bind more than we think.
4.5 stars
January 23, 2021
Very good indeed - an excellently written mix of memoir, essay and poetry crafted with wit and insight.
Link to a very interesting essay and review that is well worth your time:
https://www.walesartsreview.org/multi...
Link to a very interesting essay and review that is well worth your time:
https://www.walesartsreview.org/multi...
April 2, 2022
My Interest
I read this for this year’s Wales Readathon–#Dewithon22, hosted by Paula at The Book Jotter blog. She suggested this book as one everyone could read this year. You can read Paula’s post about the book here.
The Story
“Ever see any of our kind go searching out their white roots?”
Charlotte grows up neither Guyanan nor Welsh. Her black father and her white mother have made her against the rules. She is “mixed.” Where does she belong?
This memoir tells of Charlotte’s life and her search for belonging. It is about the life of someone who is not this and not that. A life always navigating in the middle. Of never being fully accepted by either side.
“Its the same sensation people struggle with when they hear an Asian man speaking with a heavy Scottish accent, or see a guy with dreadlocks riding with the hunt or a black ballerina in a tutu.”
Her childhood is split by her father leaving to reclaim his far-forgotten African roots. Later he will return to his native Guyana instead. Her mother wants to be with her family in Wales but they go off to Sudan and Nigeria. They return to Wales. All of this leaves Charlotte disoriented and a alienated. Unsure of who she is.
She finds her way through normal life while sorting out her confusion. She is treated badly as a teen by the boys in her school. She goes off to University. She makes a life with a white, Welsh husband. When he takes a position in Guyana, her turmoil explodes for she doesn’t fit in there, either.
My Thoughts
This is a brilliant memoir. Brilliant. That’s a word Americans rarely use in this way. But it’s the best word for it. I must have highlighted half the words in the story. Sadly, it is a very difficult book to review. I can say that the prose is vivid and readable and that the emotions are raw. But how to show this? I’m not sure I can–just read it.
What makes someone [insert a nationality]?
Are the generations of Turkish Guestworkers now Germans? Are the Moroccans who settled in post-war France truly French? Should anyone whose ancestors came to North America in a boat or plane be called an “American?” For Charlotte the question of who is, and who is not Welsh, is the same questionbeing asked the world over today in terms of other nationalities. But she does such a superb job of personalizing this question. Of navigating the waters of her own family.
Does having two parents born in Wales make one “Welsh?” Apparently not. This is difficult for an American. Anyone born here, even to parents in the country illegally, is automatically a citizen–an “American.” Does speaking the Welsh language make one Welsh? Not completely. It’s a puzzle. It’s much the same with her parental linage.
“Africa,” as too few Americans realize, is a continent divided up by 19th and 20th Century colonial rulers without regard for ethnic, linguist or other lines of settlement. The “countries” on the continent of Africa, like their borders, are made up. The same is also true in Guyana–there were at one time THREE separate colonial outposts called Guyana, ruled by three different colonial powers. Charlotte’s father was from the British one. But is he somehow an African of whatever ethic origin? Not really. Is he even still Guyanese? It’s all such a puzzle.
I believe this book will be taught in Universities in courses on ethnic identity or self discovery, and other topics, for years to come.
I read this for this year’s Wales Readathon–#Dewithon22, hosted by Paula at The Book Jotter blog. She suggested this book as one everyone could read this year. You can read Paula’s post about the book here.
The Story
“Ever see any of our kind go searching out their white roots?”
Charlotte grows up neither Guyanan nor Welsh. Her black father and her white mother have made her against the rules. She is “mixed.” Where does she belong?
This memoir tells of Charlotte’s life and her search for belonging. It is about the life of someone who is not this and not that. A life always navigating in the middle. Of never being fully accepted by either side.
“Its the same sensation people struggle with when they hear an Asian man speaking with a heavy Scottish accent, or see a guy with dreadlocks riding with the hunt or a black ballerina in a tutu.”
Her childhood is split by her father leaving to reclaim his far-forgotten African roots. Later he will return to his native Guyana instead. Her mother wants to be with her family in Wales but they go off to Sudan and Nigeria. They return to Wales. All of this leaves Charlotte disoriented and a alienated. Unsure of who she is.
She finds her way through normal life while sorting out her confusion. She is treated badly as a teen by the boys in her school. She goes off to University. She makes a life with a white, Welsh husband. When he takes a position in Guyana, her turmoil explodes for she doesn’t fit in there, either.
My Thoughts
This is a brilliant memoir. Brilliant. That’s a word Americans rarely use in this way. But it’s the best word for it. I must have highlighted half the words in the story. Sadly, it is a very difficult book to review. I can say that the prose is vivid and readable and that the emotions are raw. But how to show this? I’m not sure I can–just read it.
What makes someone [insert a nationality]?
Are the generations of Turkish Guestworkers now Germans? Are the Moroccans who settled in post-war France truly French? Should anyone whose ancestors came to North America in a boat or plane be called an “American?” For Charlotte the question of who is, and who is not Welsh, is the same questionbeing asked the world over today in terms of other nationalities. But she does such a superb job of personalizing this question. Of navigating the waters of her own family.
Does having two parents born in Wales make one “Welsh?” Apparently not. This is difficult for an American. Anyone born here, even to parents in the country illegally, is automatically a citizen–an “American.” Does speaking the Welsh language make one Welsh? Not completely. It’s a puzzle. It’s much the same with her parental linage.
“Africa,” as too few Americans realize, is a continent divided up by 19th and 20th Century colonial rulers without regard for ethnic, linguist or other lines of settlement. The “countries” on the continent of Africa, like their borders, are made up. The same is also true in Guyana–there were at one time THREE separate colonial outposts called Guyana, ruled by three different colonial powers. Charlotte’s father was from the British one. But is he somehow an African of whatever ethic origin? Not really. Is he even still Guyanese? It’s all such a puzzle.
I believe this book will be taught in Universities in courses on ethnic identity or self discovery, and other topics, for years to come.
December 4, 2013
I found Sugar and Slate interesting because of the exploration of identity -- I've read books involving the intersection between Welsh and English before, but not intersections involving people from further afield: in this case, a father from Guyana.
On the other hand, I found it hard to keep hold of anything in the narrative. It isn't a story, as such, but a memoir, and because it's made up of memories, it flits from place to place and thought to thought. I'm too flighty myself at the moment to be able to get hold of that, so it was a difficult read for me in that sense -- despite the fact that in terms of the prose, it's easy enough to read.
On the other hand, I found it hard to keep hold of anything in the narrative. It isn't a story, as such, but a memoir, and because it's made up of memories, it flits from place to place and thought to thought. I'm too flighty myself at the moment to be able to get hold of that, so it was a difficult read for me in that sense -- despite the fact that in terms of the prose, it's easy enough to read.
August 1, 2022
Sugar and Slate by Charlotte Williams was first published in 2002. Now, twenty years later, it is taking its place in Parthian Books' Library of Wales series, a canon of the greatest Anglo-Welsh writing which encompasses fiction, non-fiction, poetry and memoir. Williams' book, the 51st entry in that series, is the latter of these.
This is a memoir of her experience growing up in Llandudno on the North Wales coast (I grew up there too and recognised much) in the 1960s (it hasn't changed much since then). She is the daughter of a black father and white mother but feels neither truly Welsh or Guyanan. Her father heads back to Africa to try and find his roots, the family decamp there too, and this disorientating mix of countries, cultures and identities leave Williams trying to find a middle ground, a compromise that will satisfy her.
Alongside the memoir there is also the history of being black in Wales, of young African boys ripped from their homelands in the 1870s and being dragged to Colwyn Bay, a small seaside town of little repute and offering little. Of the first race riots in Cardiff.
Then there is poetry and song mixed in too - you cannot write about Wales and Welsh identity without mentioning song.
All these elements work to craft a truly memorable memoir, one fully deserving of its place in the Library of Wales.
Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.
This is a memoir of her experience growing up in Llandudno on the North Wales coast (I grew up there too and recognised much) in the 1960s (it hasn't changed much since then). She is the daughter of a black father and white mother but feels neither truly Welsh or Guyanan. Her father heads back to Africa to try and find his roots, the family decamp there too, and this disorientating mix of countries, cultures and identities leave Williams trying to find a middle ground, a compromise that will satisfy her.
Alongside the memoir there is also the history of being black in Wales, of young African boys ripped from their homelands in the 1870s and being dragged to Colwyn Bay, a small seaside town of little repute and offering little. Of the first race riots in Cardiff.
Then there is poetry and song mixed in too - you cannot write about Wales and Welsh identity without mentioning song.
All these elements work to craft a truly memorable memoir, one fully deserving of its place in the Library of Wales.
Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.
Read
August 1, 2022Sugar and Slate by Charlotte Williams was first published in 2002. Now, twenty years later, it is taking its place in Parthian Books' Library of Wales series, a canon of the greatest Anglo-Welsh writing which encompasses fiction, non-fiction, poetry and memoir. Williams' book, the 51st entry in that series, is the latter of these.
This is a memoir of her experience growing up in Llandudno on the North Wales coast (I grew up there too and recognised much) in the 1960s (it hasn't changed much since then). She is the daughter of a black father and white mother but feels neither truly Welsh or Guyanan. Her father heads back to Africa to try and find his roots, the family decamp there too, and this disorientating mix of countries, cultures and identities leave Williams trying to find a middle ground, a compromise that will satisfy her.
Alongside the memoir there is also the history of being black in Wales, of young African boys ripped from their homelands in the 1870s and being dragged to Colwyn Bay, a small seaside town of little repute and offering little. Of the first race riots in Cardiff.
Then there is poetry and song mixed in too - you cannot write about Wales and Welsh identity without mentioning song. All these elements work to craft a truly memorable memoir, one fully deserving of its place in the Library of Wales.
Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.
This is a memoir of her experience growing up in Llandudno on the North Wales coast (I grew up there too and recognised much) in the 1960s (it hasn't changed much since then). She is the daughter of a black father and white mother but feels neither truly Welsh or Guyanan. Her father heads back to Africa to try and find his roots, the family decamp there too, and this disorientating mix of countries, cultures and identities leave Williams trying to find a middle ground, a compromise that will satisfy her.
Alongside the memoir there is also the history of being black in Wales, of young African boys ripped from their homelands in the 1870s and being dragged to Colwyn Bay, a small seaside town of little repute and offering little. Of the first race riots in Cardiff.
Then there is poetry and song mixed in too - you cannot write about Wales and Welsh identity without mentioning song. All these elements work to craft a truly memorable memoir, one fully deserving of its place in the Library of Wales.
Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.
May 18, 2017
Charlotte Williams' autobiography is tale of the complexity of cultural loyalties as well as mixed-raced identity. Hailing from both north Welsh and Afro-Guyanese heritage, Williams' social allegiance is from the get-go more complex than just 'Welsh' or 'Guyanese'.
Williams uses both prose and poetry well to tell her story. I can't remember the last time a non-fiction piece of creative writing has gripped me like Sugar and Slate has. The writing and its sense of place form both humourous anecdotes, and painful episodes. Her quest for belonging is split into three chronologic parts: Africa, Guyana, and Wales. It seems the disorientation of a non-linear narrative has confused some readers, but I can assure you that there's a firm beginning, middle and end to the tale that, emotively, plays out well.
Williams has an ear for dialogue. Particularly, the many varieties of English she has come across in her life. These include northern Welsh English, Afro-Guyanese English, Indo-Guyanese English, French English, and several more. She uses both phonetic-respellings and footnotes to illustrate the sounds and vocabulary of a complex network of English speakers, all of these differences in English attach to varying cultural identities in fascinating ways.
An amazing read throughout. A contemporary highlight of Welsh writing in English.
Williams uses both prose and poetry well to tell her story. I can't remember the last time a non-fiction piece of creative writing has gripped me like Sugar and Slate has. The writing and its sense of place form both humourous anecdotes, and painful episodes. Her quest for belonging is split into three chronologic parts: Africa, Guyana, and Wales. It seems the disorientation of a non-linear narrative has confused some readers, but I can assure you that there's a firm beginning, middle and end to the tale that, emotively, plays out well.
Williams has an ear for dialogue. Particularly, the many varieties of English she has come across in her life. These include northern Welsh English, Afro-Guyanese English, Indo-Guyanese English, French English, and several more. She uses both phonetic-respellings and footnotes to illustrate the sounds and vocabulary of a complex network of English speakers, all of these differences in English attach to varying cultural identities in fascinating ways.
An amazing read throughout. A contemporary highlight of Welsh writing in English.
October 10, 2022
Charlotte Williams has written a remarkable memoir which raises so many issues, appears honest and has a lyricism that lifts the often difficult subject matter. I live on Anglesey overlooking Parys Mountain which features early in the tale. To my shame, I was unaware that the minerals mined there were used in the manufacture of shackles for slave ships. I’m familiar with many of the locations and found the contrasts between the Welsh and African cultures absolutely fascinating. It’s such a unique insight and it’s difficult to understand the challenges faced as a mixed race person in 1960s Britain. Her perspective is recounted with both honesty and often humour but there are parts that bought tears to my eyes as I felt the small humiliations that were faced daily.
This is a remarkable autobiography. It’s a search for belonging that’s difficult to imagine. It’s a tale of prejudice and exploitation but in a positive and non confrontational way. Articulate, fascinating and I’d really recommend this to anyone who has an interest in social history and so called multi cultural Britain.
My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.
This is a remarkable autobiography. It’s a search for belonging that’s difficult to imagine. It’s a tale of prejudice and exploitation but in a positive and non confrontational way. Articulate, fascinating and I’d really recommend this to anyone who has an interest in social history and so called multi cultural Britain.
My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.
May 22, 2024
(Actual rating about 4.3) Now I'm FINALLY finished with uni, I can actually start getting closer towards my reading goal, which is looking absolutely dismal. I picked up this book by compete chance in Waterstones, because the author discusses her experiences growing up in the town I also grew up in, and that intrigued me so much I just had to buy it. I really enjoyed this book ; there wasn't a whole lot of jumping back and forth, which I like, but enough to put things into perspective. Of course, the parts I enjoyed the most were the ones about Llandudno and it was very cool to be able to ready her thoughts about our shared hometown which I have also thought my entire life. I also learnt some history about the area I never had before, which is always appreciated, and I just loved reading about her early life and her thoughts about what constitutes a Welsh person and what doesn't. The other parts of the book were just as good, and I especially liked the theme of identity and finding who you are that ran through the book. It was also just beautifully written, and while it felt a little disjointed at times, it was still very good. Onto the next book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2024
Charlotte Williams is the daughter of a white Welsh mother and a black father form Guyana. She grew up in a small town in Wales, and later travelled to Africa and the Caribbean. This wonderfully evocative memoir charts her personal history and her search for identity, of what it means to be mixed-race, to be all at once, white, Welsh, black, African and Caribbean. A mixed heritage indeed. On the way she intelligently and with insight explores the cultures of these disparate communities, issues of colonisation and race, and above all of the importance of belonging. She describes her artist and scholar father with deep empathy. I’d never heard of Denis Williams and was intrigued to learn more about him and his work. The book is beautifully written, honest and open, a very affirmative account of her life, in spite of setbacks and difficulties that anyone with such a heritage will inevitably face. A great read and one which I heartily recommend.
August 28, 2025
I’ve yet to find a book in Bernadine Evaristo’s Black Britain Writing Back collection that hasn’t been fantastic.
I’m loving having the opportunity to find books that without this collection I would never have discovered. This book is insightful - as a white person who comes from North Wales, I have read few books that talk about the area. Let alone reflect the unique experiences of a mixed race woman historically, that contextualises that within the Black history of the area.
I love memoirs and this book is a great example of why. Memoirs trace the experiences of the person - but also speak to the wider community and the history of real life.
I look forward to reading more of the collection.
I’m loving having the opportunity to find books that without this collection I would never have discovered. This book is insightful - as a white person who comes from North Wales, I have read few books that talk about the area. Let alone reflect the unique experiences of a mixed race woman historically, that contextualises that within the Black history of the area.
I love memoirs and this book is a great example of why. Memoirs trace the experiences of the person - but also speak to the wider community and the history of real life.
I look forward to reading more of the collection.
August 16, 2022
Charlotte Williams grew up in Llandudno, Wales with a white, Welsh mother and a Guyanese, black father. This memoir looks at the parents, race and history that shaped her life. It looks at the history of slavery, colonialism and how slavery on the sugar plantations of her father's heritage shaped the slate boom and poverty of her mother's heritage. It looks at how you find a sense of home when you feel of neither one world nor another. This is fascinating. I learned so much of history that usually gets glossed over or left out of the mainstream historical narrative. This was so well written and has made me want to find out more and read more of this kind of memoir/history.
August 13, 2025
5 purple stars.
I don't give very many purple star ratings, but this book was just extraordinary. Yes, it is about Wales and "Welshness" but it is also one of the best books about being mixed-race in a very "white" place that I have ever read. There is something fascinating about the author's exploration of things both deeply familiar and deeply exotic. She also has a way with words, whether she is describing life in London, Africa, Guyana, or Wales that is vivid and captivating. And since prose, after all, isn't enough to express what she wants to say, each chapter ends with her original poetry. I cannot do this book justice with my review. I will definitely keep this book on my shelf and read it again.
Description: A mixed-race young woman, the daughter of a white Welsh-speaking mother and black father from Guyana, grows up in a small town on the coast of north Wales. From there she travels to Africa, the Caribbean and finally back to Wales. Sugar and Slate is a story of movement and dislocation in which there is a constant pull of to-ing and fro-ing, going away and coming back with always a sense of being ‘half home’. This is both a personal memoir and a story that speaks to the wider experience of mixed-race Britons. It is a story of Welshness and a story of Wales and above all a story for those of us who look over our shoulder across the sea to some other place.
I don't give very many purple star ratings, but this book was just extraordinary. Yes, it is about Wales and "Welshness" but it is also one of the best books about being mixed-race in a very "white" place that I have ever read. There is something fascinating about the author's exploration of things both deeply familiar and deeply exotic. She also has a way with words, whether she is describing life in London, Africa, Guyana, or Wales that is vivid and captivating. And since prose, after all, isn't enough to express what she wants to say, each chapter ends with her original poetry. I cannot do this book justice with my review. I will definitely keep this book on my shelf and read it again.
Description: A mixed-race young woman, the daughter of a white Welsh-speaking mother and black father from Guyana, grows up in a small town on the coast of north Wales. From there she travels to Africa, the Caribbean and finally back to Wales. Sugar and Slate is a story of movement and dislocation in which there is a constant pull of to-ing and fro-ing, going away and coming back with always a sense of being ‘half home’. This is both a personal memoir and a story that speaks to the wider experience of mixed-race Britons. It is a story of Welshness and a story of Wales and above all a story for those of us who look over our shoulder across the sea to some other place.
October 26, 2018
An interesting memoir of finding one’s identity, in relation to nationality, race and ethnicity, from a woman brought up by a white Welsh-speaking mother and a black Guyanese father.
May 6, 2021
Beautiful examination of the experience being Black and Welsh, and the traces of history that entangle these identities together. Loved it and hope to read more from Williams
July 27, 2021
Interesting meditation on growing up mixed in Wales and figuring out her place using poetry and lyrical narrative
October 18, 2024
A mirror into what my people's history has, may and could yet be. Always good to read up on diasporic literature, especially that which formulates the base of my personhood.
August 1, 2021
Williams's book is an incredibly important contribution to the realm of Welsh writing. Its value lies in its import for discussions pertaining to Welsh identity as it relates to previously textually established versions of Welsh identity. Charlotte Williams's suggestions of Wales as both coloniser and colonised are firmly grounded in historical fact and speak to a certain complexity within contemporary debate. An extremely valuable work.
June 21, 2007
somewhat different take on identity - from someone of Guyanese and Welsh extraction, who also spent several years as a child in Nigeria and Sudan
September 17, 2017
This book is beautiful, but didn't hold my attention as much as I wanted it to. The memoir begins in Africa, moves to Guyana, and ends in Wales. The story is more of a collection of disjointed memories than a chronological story, but very poignant.
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