AQuestion of Dual Identity

Author Andrea Levy is coming to the Bath Literature Festival to discuss how her experiences of being born in England to Jamaican parents informed her novel. She talks to Judith Cameron

Andrea Levy knew very well what it was like to grow up in a society where she was judged by the colour of her skin rather than by her character. And now her novel, Small Island, which explores the identity of being black and British, has won her the Whitbread Book of the Year award, as well as the Orange Prize for fiction last summer.

But she points out: "My books are not just about race. I do think I have a slightly different perspective on what I see around me, but I write about people and history."

I met Levy earlier this month and was disarmed by her modesty and evident delight at having achieved such acclaim.

Born in north London to Jamaican parents, Levy is the youngest of four children and was brought up on a council estate.

Her father worked for the Post Office and her mother, a trained teacher in Jamaica, trained again in England and obtained an Open University degree.

"We were terribly poor at first, with just my Dad working, but I had friends who lived in worse conditions and I thought we were doing quite well. In fact, until I went to college, I didn't know what middle class was."

She is passionate about the history of the British Empire and Caribbean.

"From the moment I started to write, I knew I had a story to tell," says Levy, whose first book was published in 1994. "I began tentatively writing about my own childhood and although I am still learning, I have become more ambitious.

"With Small Island, I realised I needed to write about 1948 and was terrified of the prospect because I didn't actually live it.

"I had to feel my way into it through extensive research; I was very scared but absolutely loved it."

Small Island weaves between the lives of two couples, one white and one black. It graphically describes the disappointment of Caribbeans, brought up 'British' who came to settle in the 'mother country' only to discover hostility.

But it does not portray the British as unkind or inhumane.

What could have been a bitter and angry book is gentle and humorous.

"I don't want people going around feeling guilty, I just want some understanding of why different people are living here, what they went through and were feeling," she says.

Dual identity and family are major themes in Levy's books.

However, being the daughter of migrants, she had little knowledge or contact with her own extended family. She believes that West Indians came to England for a new beginning, purposely leaving everything about the Caribbean behind them.

"I think it was very painful and they were often depressed, missing the sun and the warmth of people too. They faced antagonism and had to adjust their expectations.

"I always got the impression my parents were trying to protect me, they did not want me to expect too much from life." But when the young Levy saw Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, she knew that "there was a bit more to life than what I could see around me.

"Role models are fashionable at the moment - quite a modern notion really. I have great respect for how hard my mother worked and for the teachers who encouraged and believed in me. But at a time when my friends were into pop music, I loved musicals and so probably took my role models from them - not based on race or even gender."

The idea of being valued as a person, rather than race or gender, is important to Levy.

"A favourite book, English Passengers, by Matthew Kneale, is a story about the Tasmanian Aborigine population. Written by Kneale, it is recognised as a ripping yarn through which you learn some colonial history.

"Until recently, a book of mine would be seen primarily as being about black people - the strength of the story or history would be overlooked.

"I think Small Island and the Whitbread has altered that."

Despite having achieved so much in a relatively short time, Levy thinks Small Island is just the beginning.

She still can't quite believe how much her life has changed over the last year and even had her ambition fulfilled to have her picture taken for the National Portrait Gallery last week.

"But I really am still learning my craft - there are so many tales to tell about Britain and its Empire."

© Judith Cameron