Head of English Publishes A Level Guide

6 May 2025

The Connell Guide to ‘The Lonely Londoners’ has been written by our very own Head of English, Mr Mitropoulos-Monk. The Lonely Londoners is Trinidadian Sam Selvon’s Windrush-era novel of 1956, charting the highs and lows of migrant experience in the city at the heart of the British Empire. Many students at Latymer Upper School study Selvon’s work as part of their A Level studies. English at Latymer remains a popular A Level subject with 93 students currently.

Reflecting on the publication, Mr Mitropoulos-Monk noted: ‘It was a pleasure writing this guide to support students and teachers. Hopefully this will contribute towards Selvon’s current resurgence as a writer, and the moves towards more diverse curriculums. As Penguin’s 2021 Lit in Colour research sadly identified, the percentage of students who study a GCSE English Literature text by an author of colour is 1%. This figure will hopefully have already changed since 2021, whilst many students at Latymer have studied Selvon at A Level since 2016 when he became an option on the course. Our upcoming curriculum reform at GCSE level gives us the exciting opportunity to teach a more diverse range of authors.’

You can find the guide on the Connell Guides website or Amazon.