In December 2020 The Baltic Exchange and Maritime UK launched the Ethnicity in Maritime Network Book Club.

The Ethnicity in Maritime Book Club involves a series of informal and intimate online/hybrid meet-ups that give its members an opportunity to read, listen and discuss books that broaden the knowledge and understanding of race and the impact of racism.

The Ethnicity Network Book Club is co-hosted by Julie Lithgow, Vice Chair of the Ethnicity in Maritime network and Samaa Addo, Marketing Manager and D&I Lead at The Baltic Exchange.

“2020 really sparked people to take a closer look at the issues of race and racism in society today. I wanted to create this book club to give the Maritime UK Ethnicity Network a chance to reflect on how these issues affect us, our peers and how we relate to each other as colleagues in the maritime industry.” said Samaa Addo.

“We launched our Ethnicity in Maritime Network, as part of the Diversity in Maritime programme, to bring together individuals from culturally diverse backgrounds, and allies, to shine a strong spotlight on the specific problem of racial inequality.” added Julie Lithgow Council member at the Baltic Exchange.

Chrissie Clarke, Head of People Programmes and Operations at Maritime UK, said:

"Maritime UK was delighted to launch the Ethnicity in Maritime Book Club in 2020 as part of the Diversity in Maritime programme.

"The Club was created by Samaa Addo The Baltic Exchange and Julie Lithgow and provides a safe and creative space to challenge thinking, ideas as well as providing social interaction.

"Maritime UK is so grateful to Samaa and Julie for taking this idea and turning it into reality and to everyone who participates in Book Club sessions and opens their doors to hosting events."

This month the group are meeting on Tuesday 15 November 2022, 6pm-7pm, to analyse Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper.            

Mark Jackson, Baltic Exchange CEO, said:      

"The book club has been a wonderful and illuminating experience. It's offers the opportunity to think about the changing world we live in now and gain a better understanding.

"The club is designed to help facilitate conversations and offer insight into mixed experiences.

"We've covered a variety of fantastic books and discussed the evolution of attitudes towards gender, ethnicity, inequality and their intersections with race.

"Gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class and other forms of discrimination can intersect and we've all garnered insight into this through group conservations.”

He added:

"Over the last 12 months we allocated six books to read and digest. A personal favourite was 'The Refugee' by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which is an eight-story collection set in different locations in California and Vietnam."

If you are interested in getting involved and attending the next meeting, more details can be found here.