Johnny Zee / Songs for Our Daughters / The Feelgood Factor - ACE279.4

VO says there is a debate about the cultural value of crime thriller by black writers. Steve Pope, Publisher, the X Press, talks about a new style of crime writing Victor Headley’s Yardie, Donald Gorgon’s Cop Killer, Moss Side Massive. Dramatised sequence from Cop Killer. David Upshal, Critic, suggests these books are pulp fiction. Peter Kalu, Author of Lick Shot, also critical of the literary value of some of the books. Upshal: these books represent a very narrow part of black experience. Lee Pinkerton, Journalist, says no book can represent the whole of the black community, and people want to read about this small portion. Discussion continues with Upshall, Pinkerton and Kalu intercut giving opinions of on the undesirability of repeating stereotypes about black people as gangsters, the books being mainly about criminal activity, and there not being enough other books to balance; the universality of some of the themes in the books; one book offering the political message that black people need to organise in order to resist, having a high ranking policeman character being a good thing. Dramatised sequence from Lick Shot, in which DCI Patterson visits Frankie, a police informer. Kalu believes two major themes of his book are justice and the struggle to maintain moral integrity. Cast. Credits.