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  We are not ethnic minorities. We are Scots. We are black Scots, Chinese Scots, Asian Scots. We are all Scots. — KOKUMO ROCKS

 Ignorance about Scottish Black History has perpetuated racism, says performer, poet, historian and activist Kokumo Rocks. Campaigning for greater awareness and education through many projects, Rocks returns with another pulsating collection. As well as being a hugely popular performance poet she has developed Scotland’s first community school Black History course and performed in Human Traffik, which illustrates how black Scots helped the abolition of the slave trade.

 Scotland’s only African Asian Scottish performance poet, she publishes her second collection of vibrant and energetic poetry, Stolen From Africa, which explores love, race, nature, freedom and imprisonment with fun and humour.

 Born in Dundee and raised in the Fife mining village of Cowdenbeath, Kokumo grew up in the only black family in the area. In many of her poems she explores this upbringing and rages against racism and injustice today, both in Scotland and beyond. ‘Given a white leg’ is about an amputee who demands a black leg but is told ‘they don’t come in black’. ‘Shell Shocked’ deals with the horror made manifest in the silence following a shell explosion. Kokumo’s unique humour permeates the entire collection, endowing her strong political message with an irresistible, passionate sense of humanity.

 This year, Kokumo has been involved in many events to commemorate the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, including the Scottish Churches Racial Justice Annual Conference, and has featured in a photographic exhibition entitled A Glasgow Story...A snapshot of African Caribbean life in Glasgow Today by Roddy McKay at St Mungo Museum in Glasgow. She is a vocal supporter of Black History Month in October, which has a national programme of events but still needs more promotion in Scotland.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:
Author profile— In 1991 Kokumo Rocks began to fulfil her life-long dream to become a performance poet. Her first collection of poetry Bad Ass Raindrop was published by Luath Press in 2002 and since then she has taught countless individuals, adults and children alike, about the appreciation of poetry. She took part in Kofi Annan’s Global Peace Initiative in Geneva, and in a small delegation to Israel/Palestine. Kokumo – the name means ‘this one will not die’ – lives by the motto ‘if you don’t ask you won’t get’, and believes that passion can turn the ‘mundane into excitement’. She has been inspired by poets including Maya Angelou, Benjamin Zephania and Ivor Cutler, but above all by ‘growing up black in Scotland’.
Launch—7pm on Friday 23 November at Medina's (next to Negotiants) on Lothian Street, Edinburgh. Come along to see and hear Kokumo perform, along with a musical performance.
Trade order hotline—please call HarperCollins on 0870 787 1730.
Mail order—please call Luath Direct on 0131 225 4326 [24 hours] (fax 0131 225 4324)
ISBN—1 906307 19 9, PB £7.99