Saturday 7 December from 11.30 am to 1.30 pm at The Wanstead Tap

Meet Michael Rosen and buy signed copies of his books.
Free entry – just join the queue!
  • Newham Bookshop by Pete Fallan
    Newham Bookshop, Pete Fallan, March 2021.
  • We can send books by post, usually £3.20 in the UK.


Like Lockdown Never Happened by Joy White
Like Lockdown Never Happened is published by Repeater Books in paperback at £10.99.

Joy White

Like Lockdown Never Happened

Music and Culture During Covid

An analysis of how Black music and culture framed how we passed the time in the first 18 months of the pandemic.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, music listening increased as people used it to help to counter the psychological fallout of lockdown and reduce its effects of isolation, restriction and boredom. At the same time, concerts and other musical events moved online, and even when lockdown eased, social distancing meant that group musical and cultural events took on adifferent format.

With a focus on contemporary Black music, this book takes a deep dive into a few of the various forms that popular culture took over this period, including Kano’s Newham Talks series; Steve McQueen’s BBC anthology Small Axe; the Verzuz DJ Battle series; TikTok’s Don’t Rush Challenge; radio station theresnosignal; and many more.

An attempt to make sense of chronological and kairotic time in the early era of the pandemic, this book explores the way that Black joy and sonic Black geographies were key to the culture of this period, and how Black music and Black creative expression soundtracked and sustained us during the pandemic.