5 books to Diversify your brit lit curriculum

My summer before I started teaching, I was sitting in a graduate class bemoaning the fact that the curriculum I was assigned to teach included only texts by White males. Not a single woman or person of color was on the list of required texts! I was remarking on it when a classmate said something like, “Well, what do you expect? It’s British literature.”

Right. It’s Britain. It’s not just a country of White people. London is a city full of people from all around the world where hundreds of languages are spoken. It’s a place where people of a plethora of races and genders are writing and publishing. Just as we have a responsibility to diversify our American literature courses, so too do we have the responsibility to add voices of color and women’s voices to our British Literature curriculum.

An amazing way to to do this is through adding contemporary fiction into your class. Whether it is through a book club format or a full class novel, contemporary fiction is a perfect way to talk about issues in our world today and what it means to be “British” (or any nationality) in an increasingly globalized world.


Here are my favorites :

1. Run Riot by Nikesh Shukla- This book is perfect for starting a discussion on racial justice, police brutality, and gentrification in the classroom. It’s a very approachable YA novel about a group of kids who witness a horrible act of police brutality. After this moment, they end up on the run from cops who are trying to get back the USB with the footage of the attack on it. It’s a thrilling book with lots of action with information about important issues in our world today. It will get kids thinking and talking, as well as learning British teenage slang! Content Warnings: Violence, racism, cancer // SEE MY RUN RIOT TPT PACKET HERE
2. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman- This uplifting novel is a great place to get your students thinking about mental health and trauma. This novel focuses on a young woman named Eleanor who does the same thing day after day, relying on alcohol and routine to mask her loneliness. When something in her life changes one day, her life gets shaken up and she must confront her past to move forward. This book is very readable for students with lots of humorous scenes, while still having a lot of advanced vocabulary and allusions to do a lot of literary analysis. Content Warnings: Abuse, depression, alcoholism, suicide attempt // SEE MY ELEANOR OLIPHANT TPT PACKET HERE
3. The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge- This gothic-inspired historical fiction YA novel will transport your students to the Victorian Era as they work to solve a murder mystery. This novel is based in the world of natural science and fossil excavation, while also pulling in conversations about religion as well as some fantasy aspects. After moving to a windswept Channel Island, 14-year-old Faith must discover who murdered her father while using a magical tree that tells one hidden truths in exchange for lies. It has a powerful message of women and their accomplishments that will resonate with students. Content Warnings: Murder, violence // SEE MY THE LIE TREE TPT PACKET HERE
4. White Teeth by Zadie Smith- This novel is truly a contemporary classic that spans decades of the lives of three families in London. It’s humorous, but also very literary, as it melds the future and the past together, leaning into thematic topics like memory and identity. If you are looking for a novel that will give you a lot to analyze and that is very capital-L Literary, this is the one for you. It might be more challenging for lower level readers, so I recommend giving it to honors students or ambitious students in regular level courses. Content Warning: Very bad language, suicide, violence, sex // SEE MY WHITE TEETH TPT PACKET HERE
5. Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie- I think this is my favorite novel on this list because it is the perfect mix of action, politics, and literary-ness. It’s a retelling of Antigone by Sophocles for a modern audience, set with a Muslim family in contemporary London. It deals with terrorism, citizenship, family, prejudice, and religion, which can open up a lot of great discussions. While the beginning of the novel is a bit slow, the ending is riveting and will keep students interested till the final line. Content Warnings: Terrorism, violence, sex // SEE MY HOME FIRE TPT PACKET HERE

I was lucky enough to get funding to do these five books as a book clubs experience for students so they were able to select a text that was interesting and a good fit for them. Not everyone is that lucky, so if you can only select one, I’d take some time to figure out what works best for your students. Run Riot is great for lower level readers who love action and social justice. White Teeth is great for honors students who want to sink their teeth into something challenging with lots to analyze. Overall, the students who selected The Lie Tree and Home Fire seemed the most engaged in their books of all my students, so I think those two are the best “go-tos” if you want to pick just one. 

I also want to warn against two books that are often added to British Literature curriculums in an attempt to diversify the class texts. These two are The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime and Little Bee. These books, while proposing to uplift people with autism and refugees, are not Own Voices texts, so they lack the nuance of lived experience to make them authentic. I find it valuable and imperative to teach Own Voices texts when and where I can. 

I know that not every teacher has the opportunity, the support, or the funding to make these changes in their curriculum. While I made little steps in each to integrate new texts by women and people of color each year, it wasn’t until my 4th year that I got the curriculum to a place where I really feel it values and uplifts many identities. Please feel free to reach out if you have questions or suggestions for diversifying British literature curriculums!