Nikesh Shukla

Bringing together 21 exciting black, Asian and minority ethnic voices emerging in Britain today, The Good Immigrant explores why immigrants come to the UK, why they stay and what it means to be ‘other’ in a country that doesn’t seem to want you but still needs you for its diversity monitoring forms. Inspired by discussion around why society appears to deem people of colour as bad immigrants until by winning Olympic races or being conscientious doctors, they cross over and become good immigrants, editor Nikesh Shukla has compiled a collection of essays that are poignant, challenging, angry, humorous, heartbreaking, polemic, weary and – most importantly – real.

Aspiring MC Taran and her twin brother Hari never wanted to move to Firestone House. But when the rent was doubled overnight and Dad's chemo meant he couldn't work, they had to make this tower block their home. It's good now though; they feel part of something here.

When they start noticing boarded-up flats and glossy flyers for expensive apartments, they don't think much of it - until Hari is caught up in a tragedy, and they are forced to go on the run.

It's up to these teenagers to uncover the sinister truth behind what's going on in the block, before it blows their world apart.

Madhu is 17 going on 40 and starting her final year of sixth-form college. She has the weight of the world on her shoulders: her dad is putting pressure on her to do a law degree, which is the last thing on earth she wants to do. Her estranged sister is raising her nephew by herself in London, and contact is strictly forbidden. And Madhu needs money so she's pulling in every single shift she can at a pizza place. What she really wants, though, is to be a world-famous stand-up comedian ...

When a YouTube clip of her dealing with college bullies with a hilarious verbal take-down goes viral, Madhu is suddenly catapulted into the bright lights of stardom - and it's not long before a fellow Asian comedian gives her her first break as a support act on stage with her. But the road to comedy glory is not a barrel of laughs - and Madhu's own struggles with her family and identity soon catch up with her. Can she find her way to the lighter side of life, or will she lose everything she knows and loves in the process?