Laila Woozeer is a British author, performer, musician, and activist. Woozeer's 2022 book, ''Not Quite White'' (published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

) is a memoir described as "primarily focused on mixed-race identity and also looking at representation, structural racism,

intergenerational trauma Intergenerationality is interaction between members of different generations.Klimczuk, Andrzej, ''Intergenerationality, Intergenerational Justice, Intergenerational Policies'', n:S. Thompson (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice'', ...

and interracial family relations." Woozeer has also written for

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

Eastern Eye The ''Eastern Eye'' is a British weekly newspaper, published every Friday. It was created in 1989 and was first published by ''The Guardian'', before becoming a standalone newspaper. History Sarwar Ahmed founded the ''Eastern Eye'' from hi ...

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

, My London

Shout Out UK Shout Out UK (SOUK) is a non-partisan social enterprise, based in the United Kingdom. Its mission is to strengthen democracy by providing training and programmes on media literacy and political literacy. Shout Out UK was formed in August 2015 ...

and

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women aro ...

on race and identity. Woozeer is also a multi-instrumentalist who has worked in both theatre and musical theatre composing both

original score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cue (theatrical), cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the ...

s and

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

Writing

''Not Quite White''

Woozeer's debut book, ''Not Quite White'', was released on 23 June 2022, and published by

. The book is a memoir that focusses on mixed race identity as well as representation,

structural racism A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

, and interracial family relations. Excerpts from the book were published in

Mashable Mashable is a Online newspaper, news website, digital media platform and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005. History Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2004. Early iterations o ...

and Wales Art Review. The book was featured in a list of best non-fiction books in ''

'' and '' Stylist''. The book began as a blog post on their blog TAPE PARADE.

Other writing

Woozeer has written for and been interviewed in The Guardian, ''

'', ''

'', '' My London'', ''

'' and ''

'' on race and identity. In 2015,

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

republished a post written by Woozeer about using the online dating app

Tinder Tinder is easily Combustibility and flammability, combustible material used to Firemaking, start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder unt ...

as a non-white person. Woozeer previously wrote a blog called TAPE PARADE.

Music

Laila Woozeer Wolf Pack Wuthering Heights performance

Woozeer is a multi-instrumentalist who has worked in both theatre and musical theatre composing both

s and

s. Woozeer primarily uses piano and voice, as well as playing guitar,

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

, bassoon and clarinet. Woozeer has worked on several projects including: * The ''Not Quite White'' book is part of a larger series of work which includes an EP of original songs and artwork. * Heather And Harry: Woozeer was composer, actor, and musician for a collaboration with Stumble Trip Theatre. * ''WOLF PACK:'' Woozeer was the creator, performer and produce of an award-winning performance-based collective * QUIZCATS: Woozeer was the creator, arranger and performer for a live band karaoke, it included Disney-themed events named Quizney. * A Strange Wild Song: Woozeer was composer, actor and musician in a show created with Rhum & Clay. * In 2017 Woozeer was part of the group The Notables on

Pitch Battle ''Pitch Battle'' is a British singing show hosted by Mel Giedroyc on BBC One, which aired for one series in 2017. The show sees rival musical groups facing-off against each other, inspired by the 2012 film ''Pitch Perfect''. At the final on 22 J ...

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

Activism

After being subjected to '

upskirt Upskirting or upskirt photography is the practice of taking photographs or videos under a person's skirt or kilt, capturing an image or video of the crotch area, showing underwear such as panties, and sometimes genitalia. An "upskirt" is a photo ...

ing', Woozeer was interviewed on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadc ...

radio as well as by

Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Sundial Media Group. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Ref ...

about the experience and the campaign to make it illegal under The Voyeurism (Offences) Act.

Education

Woozeer is a graduate of

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

and holds a Masters in Advanced Music Performance.

Personal life

Woozeer lives in London and is vegan. Woozeer is Welsh, French, Scottish, American, Indian and Mauritian. Woozeer is non-binary.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woozeer, Laila Living people 21st-century Welsh memoirists 21st-century Welsh writers Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London British non-binary musicians British non-binary writers British people of Mauritian descent Non-binary activists Welsh people of American descent Welsh people of French descent Welsh people of Indian descent Welsh people of Scottish descent Welsh women singer-songwriters Welsh singer-songwriters Year of birth missing (living people)