Borderland

“Rod Edmond brings an expert scholarly eye and poetic insight to a complex and fascinating project, drawing history, literature and contemporary social realities into his account.” ABDULRAZAK GURNAH, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 2021

“A thrilling and urgently necessary read at a time of social division and agonised questions about Britain’s land and soul; questions about who belongs in Britain, and which world community Britain itself belongs to.” BIDISHA, Journalist, broadcaster and novelist

After almost drowning while playing cricket on the Goodwin Sands, Rod Edmond sets out to walk the East Kent coastline from Thanet to Folkestone, to explore its geography and politics, its history of invasion and defence, and investigate how its fabled White Cliffs mark a border that has sometimes offered refuge and at other times refused entry.

Its final section deals with the treatment of the displaced now arriving on this coastline in search of sanctuary, drawing on his experience of working with asylum seekers caught in the toils of the detention system and broadening into a discussion of the hostile environment policy of recent governments.