BLACK HISTORY MONTH @ HOUSMANS
In collaboration with Lon-art.org as part of their BLACK SHEROES MONTH

A powerful anthology from BAME voices who have had experiences with mental health issues.

Did you know that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people with mental health issues are more likely:
to be sectioned, 
to be medicated,
to be ostracised,
to be forgotten.

There is a huge disparity between mental health funding for minority mental health research and the wider community. Our anthology gives voice to these particularly marginalised groups and showcase their remarkable talent and powerful words.

The Colour of Madness is a seminal anthology, comprised of poetry, fiction, essays, memoirs and art submitted by BAME writers, academics, mental health workers, artists and those who are still navigating life with mental health problems.
BAME mental health is seriously underfunded and largely ignored by the community. Our mission is to raise awareness about the serious issues surrounding BAME mental health all the way to Number 10 and start some robust dialogue that will change the way marginalised sectors of society with mental health issues are treated.

Editor
Samara Linton is a final-year medical student at University College London and a University of Cambridge graduate. She has published research on mental health stigma and frequently writes about gender, race and health for various online publications. In 2016, she was awarded Best New Journalist at the Ending Violence Against Women Media Awards for her work on the mental health of black women and the experiences of migrant women in UK detention centres.

Samara is particularly interested in the role of communities in tackling oppression, and March 2016 saw the Parliamentary launch of the report she co-edited for the Africa All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Ebola crisis and the role of communities in strengthening health systems. Samara welcomes the opportunity to create a platform for people from BAME communities to shape conversations about mental health in the UK.

Associate Editor
Rianna Walcott is a PhD candidate at Kings College London, where she is researching how women of colour form communities in digital spaces, following an English literature undergraduate and masters degree at Edinburgh University. She is passionate about decolonising curricula and promoting diversity in academia, and co-founded projectmyopia.com in pursuit of that goal: a website that crowdsources recommendations and reviews of diverse materials for inclusion in curricula.

As a black woman who suffers from poor mental health, and who was turned away by a white mental healthcare professional in a time of need, Rianna is adamant about the need for more BAME healthcare professionals who are sensitive to contemporary BAME needs and issues, and who are able to recognise that trauma may look different on a non-white face.