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What We Leave We Carry: Colin Grant’s new book is out now

What do we leave behind when we move to a new place – and what do we carry with us, physically and emotionally, wherever we land?

Over the past few years, WritersMosaic has been exploring this question through interviews with people who have travelled to Britain to make a new life, with many of the stories originally published on the WritersMosaic podcast.

Today, Jonathan Cape publishes WritersMosaic Director Colin Grant’s new book, What We Leave We Carry: Voices of Migration to Britain, which brings together a collection of these fascinating conversations. A Czech-Roma lawyer in Reading, an Iranian taxi driver in Shropshire, a Sierra Leonean actor in Northampton, a Romanian police officer in Edinburgh – these stories give voice to communities who have collectively shaped, complicated and enriched our culture.

Last month, Colin was joined by at the Hay Festival by three writers whose stories feature in the book. Suzanne Harrington (The Liberty Tree), an Irish writer, shared the story of the ‘introductory’ sick note she brought with her from her psychiatrist; Eric Ngalle Charles (Homelands), a Cameroonian poet, told the tale of the ancestral charm bestowed upon him to ward off any danger encountered in Britain; and Amanda Vilanova (Hurricane Diaries), a Puerto Rican writer, actor and translator, reflected on the story of her mother’s jewellery, gifted to her to sell in an emergency.

What We Leave We Carry panellists (l-r) Colin Grant, Suzanne Harrington, Amanda Vilanova and Eric Ngalle Charles at Hay Festival 2026. © Finn Beales.

Candid, profoundly human, sometimes funny and always moving, What We Leave We Carry is a chance to listen to Britain – in all its richness and complexity.

The book is available now in hardback and ebook.

Lead image shows What We Leave We Carry panellists (l-r) Suzanne Harrington, Eric Ngalle Charles, Amanda Vilanova and Colin Grant at Hay Festival 2026. © Finn Beales.

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