Not small talk

On the face of it, this is a heavy night of chat. Part of Black History Month, the evening is one in a series of debates responding to David Blunkett's recent speeches and proposed legislation on immigration.

However, in conversation the Caribbean novelist George Lamming and the academic Stuart Hall promise particularly interesting perspectives, given both arrived in the UK in the 1950s, but only Hall stayed.

Lamming now lives in Barbados, an island he caught beautifully in his 1953 novel In The Castle Of My Skin. Hall has written at length on race and has an iconic following in the black community.

Although In The Castle Of My Skin is set in his native country, many of Lamming's novels were written in the UK - he was part of the first post-war wave of immigrant writers, alongside Samuel Selvon and Wilson Harris. It's a period in Black British history recently captured on the calypso compilation London Is The Place For Me; a cultural explosion rooted in notions of empire and exile that helped shape racial constructs for years to come.

Hall and Lamming last spoke together at the ICA in 1958 - tonight promises not just a meeting of contrasting arguments and cultural perceptions, but a long-awaited meeting of minds. CA

George Lamming and Stuart Hall are at the ICA tonight, The Mall SW1, 8.30pm, £8, £7 concs, £6 mems (limited availability). Tel: 020 7930 3647 www.ica.org.uk Tube: Charing Cross