This chapter aims to demonstrate that even when telling ostensibly realist narratives the field asserts its art, its performance, through the use of unexpected metaphorical language. It traces the ways in which contemporary writing responds to the history of the field since its frequently cited conception date, the moment of arrival of its best‐known early writers in the Windrush generation from 1948 onwards. The chapter asserts the coherence and relevance of the category of writing often termed Black Writing in Britain or Black British Writing. It explores the ways in which contemporary texts respond to the ongoing impact of colonialism and to the context of neoliberal globalization. In her 2002 article ‘Nation and Contestation’, Alison Donnell identifies broadly generational trends in the field (or canon) of Black British literature, emerging in response to shifting discourses of race, representation, and, predominantly, nation.