In Service95 Book Club’s series The Books That Made Me, cultural figures discuss the books that have influenced their lives and work. This month’s guest is actor and campaigner Fehinti Balogun, who has starred in TV shows including drama series Viewpoint (2021), Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You (2020), and most recently the Ewan McGregor-led A Gentleman In Moscow (2024). Beyond his acting career, he is a passionate climate activist. His TED talk, How to Find Your Voice for Climate Action, has been viewed almost 30,000 times on YouTube alone, and CAN I LIVE? – the film Balogun conceived, wrote and performed digitally – expressed his journey as a Black British man into environmental activism. Here, he shares some of the books that have most influenced his work.
The Book Whose Cover I Judged... Earth For All: The Survival Guide for Humanity. I have a friend who is a big player in environmental television. He brought it up a couple of times, and I was like, “Are you sure?” But then I read it, and I went, “Oh, yeah, I get it.” A lot of the work I do outside of acting is talking about climate change and restorative justice. A big part of the responsibility of the cultural sector is showing what we believe is possible; Earth For All shows you really effective steps to making mass change for everybody.
The Book That Changed My Mind... Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma & Consentual Nonmonogamy by Jessica Fern changed my life because it was so personal. Attachment theory is really useful. It gives you a language and tools to understand something about yourself or about life. I have struggled with all sorts of attachment things and never known why. Structurally and societally, especially when it comes to love and relationships, we have expectations instead of guidance. We have things you can fail at or be good at, instead of things you can grow and change. Polysecure was really helpful in understanding that.
The Book I Always Recommend To My Friends... All About Love by bell hooks, because it helped me understand the structures of the world and understand myself. Within the climate movement, when you’re communicating with people, you have to meet them where they’re at, not where you want them to be. You have to go to what they are dealing with before you can take them to what you are dealing with. Something in me was unlocked by how I could relate to the world because of All About Love. I love that book so much, and it is in the middle of my ethos for change, which is love. It gives you parameters for acting lovingly and connecting lovingly. If you apply that politically, you end up with a sort of revolutionary thought.
The Book That Opened My Eyes... Ain’t I A Woman? – another bell hooks book, about the history of sexism and racism that Black women have faced. There are Black women in my life whose experiences I know, but until I read this book and understood the historical context of those experiences, as well as the privilege I have as a man in this world... This book was so beautiful in helping me see things I hadn’t understood before. It’s a wonderful book; it really expanded my understanding of the world.
The Author Whose Entire Bibliography I’ve Read... I’m a bell hooks advocate for life, baby. I’ll read anything that woman ever puts to paper ever, ever, ever. She’s incredible. Every time I read a book, I just see hooks in it, such as Mikaela Loach’s It’s Not That Radical or Lola Olufemi’s Feminism Interrupted; it all feels very hooksian. I’ve never had it with an author where I feel like I’m having a conversation all the way through. I can’t tell you how much this woman changed my life.
A Gentleman In Moscow is streaming on Showtime and Paramount+ now
