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Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture 2026

Nesrine Malik

THE CLAUDIA JONES Memorial Lecture 2026 will be delivered by Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik at the Guardian’s office in King’s Cross on Tuesday 20 October. Her subject is “the Black diaspora and our right to our stories and experiences, and the value and challenge of that in a white-curated media environment in the throes of backlash against racial equity”.

This event is open only to NUJ members and invited guests. Its timing to be confirmed soon. Tickets are free, but registration is required. Refreshments will be provided. The union will provide an attendee list to the Guardian for the purposes of security.

The Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture in given in honour of the pioneering journalist who founded probably the UK's first Black newspaper, the West Indian Gazette and Afro-Asian Caribbean News.

A life of struggle

Claudia Jones 1915-1964

Image © NUJ

Claudia Jones was born in Trinidad in 1915, but later moved to New York where she encountered poverty and discrimination.

In 1936 she joined the Young Communist League and joined the staff of the Daily Worker. She was arrested in 1955 and served a year in prison before being deported and given asylum in the UK.

Confronted by posters saying "No blacks, no dogs, no Irish", she became a leader in the Black equal rights movement that was emerging in London's Notting Hill and founded The West Indian Gazette, one of the first Black newspapers in the UK.

Claudia always believed that "a people's art is the genesis of their freedom" and in 1959 was one of the founders of the Notting Hill Carnival. Today the carnival is the biggest in Europe and is a fitting memorial to Claudia's life of activism and campaigning. Claudia died in London on Christmas Day, 1964, and is buried in Highgate Cemetery next to Karl Marx.

Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture nuj.org.uk - register here