Dame Floella Benjamin is marking 30 years since the release of her influential children’s book Coming to England, which explores themes of the Windrush generation, immigration, race, and integration, according to ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar.
Reflecting on her own upbringing, Benjamin recalls the challenges her parents faced when they moved to the UK from India. Despite encountering frequent racism, they encouraged her to embrace British culture while striving to succeed and belong—a journey that made having role models essential.
Television offered few examples, until Playschool came into her life in the mid-1970s. She vividly remembers seeing a Black woman on screen, adorned with beads in her hair, completely at ease and confident in the studio.
“The impact was enormous,” Benjamin said. “She was lively, beautiful, and utterly comfortable in her own skin.”
It wasn’t until Dame Floella Benjamin’s children’s book Coming to England was published in 1995 that I truly understood the challenges she faced growing up as part of the Windrush generation. Leaving Trinidad at just ten years old in 1960, she arrived in England, a country that often made her and her family feel unwelcome.
Her story resonated deeply—not just with me, but with millions of other immigrants and children of immigrants.
Benjamin shared that she never imagined her book would become a classic. Today, it is taught in primary schools across the UK as an important introduction to Black history.
On the 30th anniversary of its publication, she is elated that her book still speaks to the most important people, in her eyes, children.
Her book has been translated onto screen and stage, just as Dame Floella herself has had success across the cultural field.
Her importance in the public life of the UK cannot be overstated. She has always wanted to show what is possible, even in the face of many obstacles.
And her simple, honest book lays her journey out in a way children can understand and she hopes, be inspired by.