An Evening with Paul Canoville

On Wednesday 26 October 2016, Words of Colour Productions hosted an evening with Paul Canoville, Chelsea’s Football Club’s first black footballer, as part of a revival for his 2008 award-winning sport autobiography Black and Blue: How Racism Drugs and Cancer Nearly Destroyed My Life at Waterstones Piccadilly. Interviewed by Words of Colour’s Joy Francis, Canoville gave a reading from his book and spoke candidly about his tumultuous life and career,including how he survived extreme racism from Chelsea fans, his challenging relationship with his mother and how he drug addiction and two cancer diagnoses to come back fighting and his work with young people through the Paul Canoville Foundation.

Photographs by Lee Townsend.