The book I am currently reading The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín. It hooked me from the first page. The writing is calming and gentle. I’m not sure why I took so long to get to it. The book that changed my life I’d have to say a short story and a book. “St Mawr” by DH Lawrence brought me into the world of literature. The Will to Change by bell hooks really helped me to understand my emotions, my identity, how they affect other people and why we should do away with unexamined notions of masculinity. The book I wish I’d written I wouldn’t say there is any individual book I wish I had written, but I always come across sentences and think: “Damn, I wish I had come up with that.” The books that had the greatest influence on me Don’t Let Me Be Lonely by Claudia Rankine and The Double by José Saramago. Rankine gave me the confidence to write characters in a way that didn’t gloss over the disturbing but real minutiae of living with a mental illness. Saramago taught me that style is as important as story. The book I think is most overrated I think anything by Dickens is overrated, to be honest. The book that changed my mind Not a book, but an essay, from Misogynies by Joan Smith. It’s called “Czech Mate” and both highlights and dismantles the sexism within the novels of Milan Kundera. Now, whenever I try to reread him, I can’t help but roll my eyes and fling the book. The last book that made me cry Less by Andrew Sean Greer. The ending gave me chills and then I realised I was crying too. The last book that made me laugh I think it was Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, A Trilogy in Four Parts – a book I look forward to reading again. I hope I’ll be able to endure the fourth part this time. The book I’m most ashamed not to have read John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in secondary school. Only because my feelings have changed about myself and literature. The book I give as a gift The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono. My boss once came to visit me while I was ill and she gave it to me as a Christmas present. It now feels really special to give it to others. The book I’d most like to be remembered for SAFE, the anthology of Black British Men I edited. My comfort read The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald. Good for every mood, to be honest, the greatest novel ever written. • That Reminds Me by Derek Owusu is out in paperback and won the 2020 Desmond Elliot prize.