Last night, the @bereal notification pinged as I was mid speech, celebrating selling a million copies of my book! Here is some of what I said: "I remember a time when writing about race in Britain was viciously unpopular. The demand was on anti-racist writers to react rather than reflect. We were expected to share ourselves in a way that created a spectacle for consumption rather than fostering our self expression. The landscape had changed so much that if you'd told me in 2015, when I signed the contract for WHY I'M, that we would be where we are today, I wouldn't have believed you. I would have equally been in disbelief at any assertion that it would be my work that had a hand in changing the landscape." "You see, despite my outward success, I've always felt that my work had been forged in the fires of adversity. British journalism, where my writing began, is a difficult place to be if you're led by anti-racist values. My brain has had to work hard to catch up with the phenomenal level of interest WHY I'M provoked. It took me a while to trust it. But, 5 years, a dozen translation deals, a bunch of world travel and a million copies later, I am finally at ease with where, and what, my work has brought me." "I know I haven't reached this place by myself. To be Britain's first black author to top the book charts is not an individual success. It couldn't have been done without the writers community I am from, some of whom are in this room. It couldn't have been done without the anti racist movement that I am part of. It couldn't have been done without the passionate support of readers who advocated for my work. And it's the greatest privilege to hear, when I speak to readers, that in the writing I managed to distill an experience and give it words."