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Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaians-born publisher, Editing, writer and broadcaster, resident in the United Kingdom. She was Britain's youngest publisher as well as the first black female book publisher in the UK "Margaret Busby" , African Writing Online, October/November 2007.Jazzmine Breary, "Let's not forget" , in Writing the Future: Black and Asian Writers and Publishers in the UK Market Place, Spread the Word, April 2013, p. 30. when she and Clive Allison (1944–2011) co-foundedMargaret Busby, "Clive Allison obituary" , The Guardian, 3 August 2011. the London-based publishing house Allison and Busby (A & B) in the 1960s. "Black History Month in Britain: Great women you should know about" , Newsround, BBC, 1 October 2018. She edited the anthology Daughters of Africa (1992), and its 2019 follow-up New Daughters of Africa.Margaret Busby, "From Ayòbámi Adébáyò to Zadie Smith: meet the New Daughters of Africa", The Guardian, 9 March 2019. She is a recipient of the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature.Natasha Onwuemezi, "Busby to compile anthology of African women writers" , The Bookseller, 15 December 2017. In 2020, she was voted one of the "100 Great Black Britons". "100 Great Black Britons" , 2020. In 2021, she was honoured with the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award. "This Is My Story: Margaret Busby" , The Hub, London Book Fair, 26 October 2021. In 2023, Busby was named as president of English PEN.
Her parents sent their three children to be educated in England, when Busby was five. She and her sister first attended a school in the Lake District, followed by Charters Towers School, an international girls' boarding-school in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. After passing her O-levels there, aged 14, Busby left school at 15, went back to Ghana and took her A-levels at 16,Satch Hoyt, "Margaret Busby: What it takes to be the first Black Woman Publisher in the UK – Part 1" , Afro-Sonic Mapping, 25 June 1919. then spent a year at a college in Cambridge so as not to begin university too young. From the age of 17, she studied English at Bedford College, London University,Alison Donnell, "Busby, Margaret" , Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture, Routledge, 2002. where she edited her college literary magazine, as well as publishing her own poetry. She graduated with a BA Honours degree, at the age of 20. "London's most remarkable Publishing Firm" , Ebony, March 1971, pp. 43–50. She was married to British jazz musician and educator, Lionel Grigson (1942–1994).
She was Allison & Busby's Editorial Director for 20 years, "Margaret Busby – Prize Ambassador" , SI Leeds Literary Prize. publishing many notable authors including Sam Greenlee (author of The Spook Who Sat by the Door, the first novel published by A & B, in 1969),Margaret Busby, "Sam Greenlee obituary" , The Guardian, 2 June 2014. Allison & Busby page at George Padmore Institute website. C. L. R. James,Emma Bartholomew, " CLR James' publisher Margaret Busby: 'My 50 years working with books' ", Hackney Gazette, 25 January 2017. Buchi Emecheta,Ezeigbo, Akachi, "Celebrating Buchi Emecheta in London a year after" , The Guardian (Nigeria), 11 February 2018.Cobbinah, Angela, "How African writer gave women and girls a voice" , Camden New Journal, 16 February 2018. Chester Himes, George Lamming, Roy Heath, Ishmael Reed, John Edgar Wideman, Nuruddin Farah, Rosa Guy, Val Wilmer, Colin MacInnes, H. Rap Brown, Julius Lester, Geoffrey Grigson, Edward Blishen, Dermot Healy, Adrian Mitchell, Matthew Sweeney, Jill Murphy, Christine Qunta, Michael Horovitz, Alexandra Kollontai, Gordon Williams, Alan Burns, Carlos Moore, Michèle Roberts, Molefe Pheto, Arthur Maimane, Maurice Nyagumbo, Giles Gordon, Claire Rayner, Clive Sinclair, Mineke Schipper, Chris Searle, Richard Stark, James Ellroy, Hunter S. Thompson, Margaret Thomson Davis, B. Traven, Alexis Lykiard, Tom Mallin, Jack Trevor Story, Michael Moorcock, Mervyn Peake, John Clute, Julian Savarin, Ralph de Boissière, Andrew Salkey, Harriet E. Wilson, and Miyamoto Musashi.
Busby was subsequently editorial director of Earthscan (publishing titles by Han Suyin, Frantz Fanon, Albert Memmi, René Dumont, Carolina Maria de Jesus, and others), before pursuing a freelance career as an editor, writer, and critic, from the early 1990s.Chris Fite-Wassilak, "An Artist in Time: Margaret Busby". , Baring Foundation, 17 November 2020.
Hamish Hamilton will publish a collection of Busby's collected writings, titled Part of the Story: Writings from Half a Century, in 2026. Part of the Story By Margaret Busby. Penguin Books.
Busby edited a 2019 follow-up volume entitled New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent (first published by Myriad Editions in the UK), featuring another 200-plus writers from across the African diaspora....... A reviewer in The Irish Times commented: "Sometimes you need an anthology to remind you of the variety, strength and nuance of writing among a certain region or group of people. New Daughters of Africa is indispensable because African voices have been silenced or diminished throughout history, and women's voices even more so."
Connected with the 2019 anthology, the "Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award" was announced by the publisher, in partnership with SOAS, University of London, to benefit an African woman student, "Publisher Myriad and SOAS to launch The Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award". , SOAS, 15 February 2019... "Myriad And SOAS Launch £20,000 Bursary For Black Women". , The Voice, 21 February 2019 (archived).Gabi-Williams, Olatoun (2019), "Call Them Feminist Press: Celebrating African Women in Literature". , Borders. covering tuition fees and accommodation at International Students House, London. The first recipient of the award was Kenyan student Idza Luhumyo, who began her course in autumn 2020, "Idza Luhumyo Wins Inaugural Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award", Brittle Paper, 3 August 2020. ... and went on to win the 2022 Caine Prize for African Writing. "Alumna Idza Luhumyo wins the 2022 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing", SOAS University of London, 26 July 2022. .
In 2014, Busby co-authored with Ishmahil Blagrove Carnival: A Photographic and Testimonial History of the Notting Hill Carnival. "Fantastic new photobook celebrates the history of Notting Hill Carnival" , It's Nice That, 22 August 2014. Among other books for which she has written introductions or forewords are the Penguin Modern Classics edition of A Question of Power by Bessie Head, Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta (ed. Marie Umeh, 1996), Beyond Words: South African Poetics (with Keorapetse Kgositsile, Don Mattera, Lebo Mashile and Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, 2009),Irene Gaitirira, "Will Leading Poet and Activist's Death Inspire Young Authors and Poets?" , Lola Kenya Screen, 7 January 2018. and To Sweeten Bitter (2017) by Raymond Antrobus. With Darcus Howe, Busby co-edited C.L.R. James's 80th Birthday Lectures (Race Today Publications, 1984), "C.L.R. James's 80th Birthday Lectures" at Google Books. and she is co-editor with Beverley Mason FRSA of No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990, a 2018 publication arising out of the 2015–16 exhibition No Colour Bar held at the Guildhall Art Gallery. "No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990 catalogue" , Diaspora Artists. The 2023 volume Empire Windrush: Reflections on 75 Years & More of the Black British Experience, edited by Onyekachi Wambu, includes a Preface by Busby, "Media Release | Empire Windrush: Reflections on 75 Years & More of the Black British Experience (ed.) Onyekachi Wambu | Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 22 June, 2023" , BookBlast Diary, June 2023. as does Blazing Trails (2023) by Gus John. "Professor Gus John | Part 1 | 'Don't Salvage The Empire Windrush , New Beacon Books, 2023.
Busby was a prominent participant in the major 2019 exhibition Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers at Somerset House,Maya Jaggi, "Jewels from the Windrush: Get Up, Stand Up Now at Somerset House" , Financial Times, 14 June 2019. "NEW WORKS AND EVENTS FOR GET UP, STAND UP NOW: GENERATIONS OF BLACK CREATIVE PIONEERS ANNOUNCED" , 12 June – 15 September 2019, West Wing Galleries, Somerset House, London. and contributed an introductory essay for the catalogue, "Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers" , Museum Geographies, 4 August 2019.Margaret Busby, "HORACE OVÉ AND NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL" , Somerset House, 22 August 2019. as well as taking part in associated events. In 2024, she also contributed an introductory essay to the catalogue for the exhibition Inner Worlds, Outer Journeys - Ablade Glover At 90 (October Gallery, London). "Inner Worlds, Outer Journeys - Ablade Glover At 90 (October Gallery, London 4 July - 3 August 2024)", October Gallery, London, 2024, .
Busby is the editor of Firespitter: The Collected Poems of Jayne Cortez (Nightboat Books, 2025)," Margaret Busby reads Jayne Cortez's 'Howling'", Poets.org. for which she wrote an introduction.
Her abridgements and dramatisations for BBC Radio include books by C. L. R. James, "Beyond a Boundary" , BBC, Radio Times, Issue 3787, 22 August 1996: Abridged in five parts (25–30 August 1996) by Margaret Busby, produced by Pam Fraser Solomon. Jean Rhys, "Jean Rhys – Wide Sargasso Sea" , Radio Listings. Wole Soyinka, "Book at Bedtime: Ake" , BBC Radio 4, BBC Programme Index, 4 September 1995. Timothy Mo, "The Monkey King" (Radio 4, Book At Bedtime), Radio Listings. Sam Selvon, "Book at Bedtime: The Lonely Londoners" , BBC Radio 4, Programme Index, 10 March 1997. Walter Mosley, Henry Louis Gates, Lawrence Scott "A Book at Bedtime: Witchbroom" , Radio Times, Issue 3624, 17 June 1993, p. 125. and Simi Bedford. Busby's play based on C. L. R. James's novel Minty Alley, and produced by Pam Fraser Solomon, was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1998, "Minty Alley" (Afternoon Play) , BBC Radio 4.Nigel Deacon, "BBC Radio Plays, radio 4, 1998" . Diversity Website. winning a Commission for Racial Equality "Race in the Media Award" (RIMA) in 1999. "Non Traditional Channels – A Publishing and Lit Conversation" , Sable, 27 November 2012.Barry Hodge, "Radio Drama & Readings, Radio 4, 1999" – The Afternoon Play. June 2012. In October 2003, BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour broadcast Busby's five-part serial Yaa Asantewaa, also directed by Fraser Solomon.
Busby was a member of Penumbra Productions, an independent production company, with other members including Horace Ové, H. O. Nazareth, Farrukh Dhondy, Mustapha Matura, Michael Abbensetts and Lindsay Barrett, among whose projects was a series of films based on lectures by C. L. R. James in the 1980s.Suman Bhuchar, "H. O." , in Alison Donnell (ed.), Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture, Routledge, 2002, p. 214.Margaret Busby, "2015: The Year of Being Connected, Exhibition-wise", Wasafiri, Volume 31, Issue 4, November 2016.
Her writing for the stage includes Sankofa (1999),Mary Brennan, "Rhythms of everyday life" , The Herald (Glasgow), 10 February 2000. Yaa Asantewaa – Warrior Queen (UK/Ghana, 2001–02), "Adzido Pan African Dance Ensemble – Yaa Asantewaa-Warrior Queen" , UK Theatre Web, Archive Listings.Osei Boateng, "Yaa Asantewaa on stage: The Exploits of Yaa Asantewaa, the Warrior Queen of the Asantes..." , New African, 1 April 2001. The Free Library.Pajohn Dadson, "Ghana: Yaa Asantewaa Has Landed", AfricaNews, 18 May 2001.Cameron Duodu, "Yaa Asantewaa – warrior queen. (The Arts)" , New African, 1 June 2001. The Free Library. directed by Geraldine Connor,Margaret Busby, "Geraldine Connor obituary" , The Guardian, 31 October 2011. "Yaa Asantewaa: Warrior Queen", Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.McCaskie, T. C. "The Life and Afterlife of Yaa Asantewaa". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Busby has also been a song lyricist, If 2 review by Easy Livin, Progarchives.com, 9 June 2011: Shadows and Echoes' was co-written by Lionel Grigson with his then partner Margaret Busby. The late Grigson was well known during the early jazz/fusion scene, and was a member of If prior to the recording of their first album. The songs focuses on the band's softer, lighter side, featuring flute and a fine vocal."John Stevenson, "Margaret Busby: Doyenne of Black British Publishing" , Black History Month 365, 28 September 2016. acknowledged by singer Norma Winstone. "Birthday Wishes and Greetings for Norma Winstone at 80" , London Jazz News, 23 September 2021.
In 2014, following the death of Maya Angelou, Busby scripted a major tribute entitled Maya Angelou: A Celebration, which took place on 5 October at the Royal Festival Hall during the Southbank Centre's London Literature Festival; directed by Paulette Randall, and chaired by Jon Snow and Moira Stuart, the celebration featured contributions from artists including Adjoa Andoh, Angel Coulby, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicola Hughes, Ella Odedina, NITROvox, Roderick Williams and Ayanna Witter-Johnson.Rachel Holmes, "Black History Month: A – Z", The Metropolist, 3 October 2014.Lloyd Lewis Hayter, "Maya Angelou – A Celebration, Southbank Centre – review" , Afridiziak Theatre News, 7 October 2014.Margaret Busby, "A healing pen, a letterbox smile: Auntie Maya, angel of the South", The Sunday Times, 28 September 2014.
In June 2021, Busby appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, with her choices of music including "7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry, David Rudder's "Haiti I Am Sorry", "My Baby Just Cares for Me" by Nina Simone, "On the Sunny Side of the Street" by Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt, "Soweto Blues" by Miriam Makeba and "Visions" by Stevie Wonder. "Pioneering publisher Margaret Busby says industry still needs more diversity" , The Irish Times, 26 June 2021.
Busby was the patron of Independent Black Publishers (IBP), a trade association chaired by Verna Wilkins.Tricia Wombell, "Books and Spoken Word Interview: Meet Margaret Busby" , Lime. The aim of IBP, as Busby was quoted as saying, was to "provide a forum for progressive black publishers to share initiatives, maximise mutual strengths and identify common difficulties, with a view to having a more effective impact on the book trade and the wider publishing industry", and in 2007 at the London Book Fair a joint IBP stand showcased the books of Bogle-L'Ouverture Press, Tamarind Books, the X Press, Ayebia Clarke Publishing, Joan Anim-Addo's Mango Publishing, and other ventures.Andrews (2014), Doing Nothing Is Not An Option, pp. 149–50. In a 2012 interview with Tricia Wombell, Busby said: "It is important to document and celebrate the achievements of many of our Black creatives (…) so that they do not get written out of history simply because their importance may not be recognised by the mainstream."Quoted in Breary, "Let's not forget", 2013.
In August 2010, at the University of the Western Cape, she delivered a lecture in memory of assassinated South African political activist Dulcie September (1935–1988). "Local heroines in the spotlight", Brand South Africa, 6 August 2010.Daniel Krähmer, "Dulcie September Memorial Lecture", Amandla!, 17 August 2010. "Statement by the Minister of Arts and Culture of the Republic of South Africa, Ms Lulu Xingwana MP, at the Women's Day event, South African Pavilion Shanghai Exhibition", South African Government, 9 August 2010.
Busby has been a participant in numerous literary festivals and conferences internationally – in 1993, she gave the opening address at the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books"Address of Margaret Busby to the opening of the 11th International Book Fair on Thursday March 25th 1993", Sarah White, Roxy Harris & Sharmilla Beezmohun (eds), A Meeting of the Continents: The International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books – Revisited, London: New Beacon Books/George Padmore Institute, 2005 (ISBN 978-1873201183), pp. 499–500. – and has interviewed and been "in conversation" with such noted writers as Toni Morrison,S. L. Bridglal, "Tea with Toni Morrison" , The Observer, 27 December 2015. Maya Angelou,Margaret Busby, "Maya Angelou dies: Appreciation by her friend Margaret Busby" , The Independent, 29 May 2024. Ama Ata Aidoo, "Ama Ata Aidoo and Margaret Busby. The Guardian talks" . Recorded at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 1991-04-10. British Library, Sounds.Margaret Busby, "Foreword: An Open Letter to Ama Ata Aidoo", in Anne V. Adams (ed.), Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70: A Reader in African Cultural Studies, Ayebia Clarke Publishing, 2012. Wole Soyinka, "Wole Soyinka at 80" , Africa Writes 2014. Nawal El Saadawi,Kelechi Iwumene, "Africa Writes 2016: The Round-Up". "On Being A Woman Writer: Nawal El Saadawi in conversation" , Africa Writes, 2 July 2016. Ngugi wa Thiong'o. "Africa Writes: Two Writers, Two Generations" , Africa Writes 2014. and Ben Okri. "Ben Okri in conversation with Margaret Busby OBE" , Words Weekend 2019, Sage Gateshead.
Busby was appointed chair of the 2020 Booker Prize judges, other members of the panel including Lee Child, Sameer Rahim, Lemn Sissay, and Emily Wilson.Otosirieze Obi-Young, "Margaret Busby Is Chair of Judges for 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction" , Brittle Paper, January 2020. Busby has previously judged several other literary competitions, among them the Caine Prize for African Writing, "About Us — People" , The Caine Prize. the Orange Prize, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize,Boyd Tonkin, "The long-list for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize" , The Independent, 2 April 2009. the Wasafiri New Writing Prize, "New Writing Prize 2009" , Wasafiri. the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature,Ivette Romero, "The Bocas Lit Fest: The Trinidad and Tobago Literary Festival" , Repeating Islands, 7 February 2011. the Commonwealth Book Prize (for which she was chair of the judges in 2012, when the winner was Shehan Karunatilaka), the Hay Festival initiative Africa39,Margaret Busby, "Africa39: how we chose the writers for Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014" , The Guardian, 10 April 2014. and the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa (chair of judges, 2018).Inemesit Udodiong, "Wole Soyinka Prize For Literature goes to 2 joint winners from Uganda and Nigeria" , Pulse Nigeria, 10 December 2018.Ninsiima Julian, "Uganda's Harriet Anena wins Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa 2018" , PML Daily, 10 December 2018. In 2021, she served as a judge in the Trade category of the British Book Awards, and in 2022 judged the PEN Pinter Prize alongside Ruth Borthwick and Daniel Hahn.Sarah Shaffi, "Malorie Blackman's 'dynamic imaginary worlds' win her the PEN Pinter prize" , The Guardian, 21 June 2022.
She has served on the boards or in advisory positions for other cultural organisations, including the Drum Arts Centre (co-founded in 1973 by Cy Grant),Gus John, "Obituary: Cy Grant, November 8, 1919 – February 13, 2010" , Stabroek News, 28 February 2010. The Africa Centre, London, English PEN, the Royal Literary Fund, the African & Caribbean Music Circuit, the Hackney Empire theatre, the Organization of Women Writers of Africa, the Etisalat Prize for Literature (as patron, alongside Ama Ata Aidoo, Dele Olojede, Ellah Allfrey, Kole Omotoso and Zakes Mda),Bassey, Udo, "Board of Patrons of 9mobile literature prize resigns" , Premium Times, 2 August 2019. Nubian Jak Community Trust, and Wasafiri magazine. "Trustees" , Wasafiri. She is Prize Ambassador of the SI Leeds Literary Prize, and an inaugural patron (and former trustee) of jazz education charity Tomorrow's Warriors, founded in 1991. "About | The Team" , Tomorrow's Warriors. She is also a patron of Friends of the Huntley Archives at London Metropolitan Archives (FHALMA), a charitable foundation building on the archival legacy of Jessica Huntley and Eric Huntley, co-founders of the publishing house Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications.
In August 2022, Busby headlined the Berlin African Book Festival (curated by Lidudumalingani Mqombothi with the theme "Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow"), delivering the keynote address.
In March 2024, she gave the keynote address at opening of the Johannesburg Festival of Women Writers, founded by Barbara Masekela, and hosted by the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Johannesburg,James Murua, "Margaret Busby to headline Johannesburg Festival of Women Writers 2024" , Writing Africa, 1 March 2024.Letlhokwa George Mpedi, " Championing women writers is crucial for correcting the historical imbalances in literature ", Daily Maverick, 13 March 2024. which was on the theme "Mothers and Daughters: An Intergenerational Conversation".Lesego Chepape, " Festival a 'platform for women's untold stories' ", Mail & Guardian, 8 March 2024. "Margaret Busby: An icon of literary publishing and female empowerment" , Fatshimetrie, 8 March 2024. In the same month, she also participated in the 27th Time of the Writer Festival in Durban, South Africa." CCA Presents 27th Time of the Writer Festival ", University of KwaZulu-Natal, March 2024.
In July 2025, Busby gave the opening address to launch HOWL, the History of Women’s Liberation website, which aims to collect and publish the memories and stories of feminists involved in the UK Women's Liberation Movement. "Margaret Busby Launches the HOWL Website",howl-uk.org, 18 July 2025.
Also in 2018, she was among 150 "Leading Women" celebrated by the University of London to mark the 150 years since women gained access to higher education in the UK in 1868, "Leading Women 1868–2018" , University of London. and featured in the exhibition Rights for Women: London's Pioneers in their Own Words staged at Senate House Library from 16 July to 15 December 2018.Maria Castrillo, "Celebrating London's pioneers of progress in their own words" , Leading Women, University of London.
In July 2019, she was awarded the inaugural Africa Writes Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to her at the British Library during the Royal African Society's annual literary weekend by Ade Solanke and Diane Abbott as part of the festival headline event celebrating Busby's anthology New Daughters of Africa.Otosirieze Obi-Young, "Pioneering Publisher & Editor Margaret Busby Receives the Inaugural Africa Writes Lifetime Achievement Award" , Brittle Paper, 10 July 2010. "Africa Writes: Margaret Busby OBE awarded Lifetime Achievement in African Literature" , Alt Africa Review, 12 July 2019. "Meet the Headliners – Africa Writes 2019" , Africa Writes, Royal African Society.Adanech Tadesse, "A Life Transcending Borders: The Legacy of Margaret Busby OBE" , Africa Writes.
Busby is frequently cited as a pioneer in the history of Black publishers in the UK,Kadija George, "Raising the Visibility of Black British Publishers" , And Other Stories, 9 June 2017.Satch Hoyt, "Margaret Busby: What it takes to be the first Black Woman Publisher in the UK – Part 2" , Afro-Sonic Mapping, 9 July 1919. "#BlackHerStory - Celebrating Women of the Past & Present" , Ms Independent. and is acknowledged as a "pathfinder" by those who followed in her footsteps working towards making the books industry and its output more diverse, among them Bibi Bakare-Yusuf (who when speaking of founding Cassava Republic Press said: "Inspirational figures in publishing such as Margaret Busby, co-founder of Allison & Busby, were our guide"),Zukiswa Wanner, "Bibi Comes to London" , New African, Vol. 561, May 2016. Ellah Wakatama Allfrey,Ellah Wakatama Allfrey (2017), "An Interview with Margaret Busby" , Wasafiri, 32:4, pp. 2–6, DOI: 10.1080/02690055.2017.1350364. Valerie Brandes of Jacaranda Books,Dennis Abrams, "On Publishing Genre Fiction in Africa" , Publishing Perspectives, 16 October 2014. Sharmaine Lovegrove of Dialogue Books, "Sharmaine Lovegrove: 'If you don't have a diverse workforce or product, sooner or later you won't exist , The Guardian, 18 March 2018. and Aki Schilz of The Literary Consultancy. "Women In Publishing: An Interview with the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize" , The Literary Consultancy, 30 May 2019.
In UK Black History Month 2019, Zadie Smith said that Busby "has been a cheerleader, instigator, organiser, defender and celebrator of black arts for the past 50 years, shouting about us from the rooftops, even back when few people cared to listen. 'We can because she did' is a cliché but in Margaret's case it is both true and no exaggeration. She helped change the landscape of both UK publishing and arts coverage and so many Black British artists owe her a debt. I know I do."Serina Sandhu and Heather Saul, "The black women who inspired me: 'So many black British artists owe her a debt' | This Black History Month, leading black women tell i about the trailblazing black women who inspired them" , i, 29 October 2019. Afua Hirsch described Busby's impact on her career by saying that "as a black woman trying to find my own voice, Margaret has been endlessly interested, supportive and enthusiastic about helping a generation like me find our place and our ability to make change through writing."Niamh McCollum, "#ShareBlackStories is throwing a spotlight on the black British experience" , Marie Claire, 15 October 2019.
Busby was named on the 2020 list of 100 Great Black Britons, voted on by the public and with a scope of 400 years. "Officially 'Great , The Booker Prizes, 2 October 2020.
In May 2021, she was announced as the recipient of the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award 2021, "The London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award 2021" , London Book Fair, 20 May 2021. which was presented to her by Bernardine Evaristo in September at The Hurlingham Club.Roger Tagholm, "London Book Fair Delivers Its Lifetime Achievement Award to Margaret Busby" , Publishing Perspectives, 23 September 2021.Sian Bayley, "Margaret Busby receives LBF Lifetime Achievement Award" , The Bookseller, 24 September 2021. "SOAS Honorary Margaret Busby receives the 2021 London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award" , SOAS University of London, 30 September 2021.
Busby was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to publishing. She was quoted in the Hackney Gazette as saying: "Well, I know I did not fall from the sky; whenever I am offered any such award, my accepting it is also on behalf of and to acknowledge everyone who made me what I am, and those whom I have worked with along the way - so I gladly share this recognition with many others who deserve equally to be honoured for contributing excellence in countless spheres of work."Holly Chant, "Queen's Birthday Honours List 2021: MP Meg Hillier and poet Lemn Sissay among those recognised", Hackney Gazette, 11 June 2021; updated 14 June 2021. .
She has been awarded a number of honorary degrees including from the Open University, "Open University Honorary Graduates 2004" , Sesame, The Open University. SOAS, "Leading Pioneers And Innovators Honoured" , The Voice, 3 October 2019. and from Royal Holloway, where the conferral took place in June 2021 with the oration being given by Professor Lavinia Greenlaw. In June 2022, Busby also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter.
In April 2023, Busby was appointed president of English PEN, succeeding Philippe Sands in the role. "Margaret Busby appointed President of English PEN" , English PEN, 19 April 2023.Sian Bayley, "Busby appointed president of English PEN" , The Bookseller, 19 April 2023.Sarah Shaffi, "Pioneering publisher Margaret Busby named new president of PEN" , The Guardian, 19 April 2023.
Publishing career
While still at university, she met her future business partner, Clive Allison, at a party in Bayswater Road, and they decided to start a publishing company.Katie Kingshill, "Clive Allison: Publisher whose eclectic imprint was in the vanguard of independent houses", The Independent, 7 September 2011. After graduating, Busby briefly worked at the Cresset Press – part of the Barrie Group – while setting up Allison and Busby (A & B), whose first books were published in 1967, making her the then youngest publisher as well as the first African woman book publisher in the UK – an achievement she has assessed by saying: "It is easy enough to be the first, we can each try something and be the first woman or the first African woman to do X, Y or Z. But, if it's something worthwhile you don't want to be the only. ...I hope that I can, in any way, inspire someone to do what I have done but learn from my mistakes and do better than I have done."Ellen Mitchell and Sophie Kulik, "Q&A: Margaret Busby on 'New Daughters of Africa'" , Africa In Words, 29 June 2019.
Writing, editing and broadcasting
As a journalist, she has written for The Guardian (mainly book reviews "Do the Harlem shuffle – Margaret Busby explores the tangled life and work of Chester Himes in James Sallis' biography", The Guardian, 21 October 2000. I am headed for higher ground' – Reading the final instalment of Maya Angelou's memoir is painful but moving, says Margaret Busby" , The Guardian, 15 June 2002. "Marvels of the holy hour: Margaret Busby is fascinated by Wole Soyinka's witty, dramatic account of his life, You Must Set Forth at Dawn" , The Guardian, 26 May 2007.Margaret Busby, "Little Liberia: An African Odyssey in New York City by Jonny Steinberg – review" , The Guardian, 12 March 2011. or obituaries of artists and activists including Jessica Huntley, Buzz Johnson, Jayne Cortez, Jan Carew, Rosa Guy, Gwendolyn Brooks, June Jordan, Toni Cade Bambara, Florynce Kennedy, Barry Reckord, Frank Crichlow, Connie Mark, Glenn Thompson, August Wilson, Pearl Connor-Mogotsi, Geraldine Connor, Binyavanga Wainaina, bell hooks and Biyi Bandele), Margaret Busby profile at The Guardian. The Observer,Margaret Busby, "The Last Holiday: A Memoir by Gil Scott-Heron – review" , The Observer, 5 February 2012. The Independent, Margaret Busby , The Independent. The Sunday Times,Margaret Busby, "Books: Another Day in the Death of America by Gary Younge" (review), The Sunday Times, 25 September 2016. the New Statesman,Margaret Busby, "Homing instinct" (review of Black Gold of the Sun: searching for home in England and Africa by Ekow Eshun), New Statesman, 30 May 2005. and elsewhere, for both the general press and specialist journals.Margaret Busby, "We are the world: Trumpeting our words" , Griffith Review, 59: Commonwealth Now, January 2018. Margaret Busby at Journalisted. .
Daughters of Africa (1992) and New Daughters of Africa (2019)
Busby compiled Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present (London: Cape, 1992),Philip Tew, Emily Horton, Leigh Wilson (eds), The 1980s: A Decade of Contemporary British Fiction. , A&C Black, 2014, p. 108. "Daughters of Africa edited by Margaret Busby". , Kinna Reads, 24 September 2010. described by Black Enterprise as "a landmark", which includes contributions in a range of genres by more than 200 women... Widely reviewed on publication,. it is now characterised as containing work by "the matriarchs of African literature. They pioneered 'African' writing, in which they were not simply writing stories about their families, communities and countries, but they were also writing themselves into the African literary history and African historiography. They claimed space for women storytellers in the written form, and in some sense reclaimed the woman's role as the creator and carrier of many African societies' narratives, considering that the traditional storytelling session was a women's domain."..
Other book work
Busby has contributed to books including (eds Sarah LeFanu and Stephen Hayward, 1990), Mothers: Reflections by Daughters (ed. Joanna Goldsworthy, 1995),Jessica Mann, "Dishing the Dirt" , Literary Review, March 1995, p. 31. IC3: The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain (eds Kadija Sesay and Courttia Newland, 2000),Maya Jaggi, "The forgotten past" , The Guardian, 24 June 2000. Why 2K? Anthology for a New Era (2000), The Legacy of Efua Sutherland (2007), Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70 (2012), "Notes on the Contributors and Editors" , in Discourses of Empire and Commonwealth, Cross/Cultures, Vol. 192, Brill/Rodopi, 2016, . 99 words (ed. Liz Gray, 2011), Black British Perspectives: A Series of Conversations on Black Art Forms (ed. Kadija Sesay, 2011),Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Margaret Busby, Diran Adebayo. "Non-Traditional Channels: A Literary Conversation". In: Kadija Sesay (ed.), Black British Perspectives: Conversations on Black Art Forms, London: SAKS Publications, 2011. James Barnor: Ever Young (2015), "A conversation: James Barnor, Margaret Busby and Francis Hodgson" , Ever Young: Photographs of James Barnor, London, UK, and Paris, France: Clémentine de la Ferronière; Autograph ABP, 2015. If I Could Tell You Just One Thing...: Encounters with Remarkable People and Their Most Valuable Advice (by Richard Reed, 2016),Richard Reed, If I Could Tell You Just One Thing , Canongate, 2016.Jim O'Brien, "Remain faithful to your first aspiration, and 63 other sage nuggets of advice" , Independent.ie, 18 October 2020. (by Elizabeth Uviebinené and Yomi Adegoke, 2018),Arifa Akbar, "How to be a black woman and succeed: two friends who have written the manual" , The Guardian, 24 June 2018. and Chris Fite-Wassilak's The Artist in Time (July 2020). "Have a go" , The Baring Foundation Blog, 28 July 2020. "The Artist in Time: A Generation of Great British Creatives" , Bloomsbury.
Broadcasting and dramatisations
Busby has regularly worked for radio and television since the late 1960s, when she presented the magazine programme London Line for the Central Office of Information, "Margaret Busby" , British Universities Film & Video Council. as well as Break For Women on the BBC African Service, and later Talking Africa on Spectrum Radio, in addition to appearing on a range of programmes including Kaleidoscope, Front Row, Open Book, Woman's Hour, and Democracy Now! (USA).
. and An African Cargo (about the Zong massacre), directed by Felix Cross for Nitrobeat and staged at Greenwich Theatre in 2007, among events marking the bicentenary of the Slave Trade Act 1807. "An African Cargo | 2007" at NitroBeat.Felix Cross, "Belle: An Unexpected Journey" , Nitro, 13 June 2014. "African Cargo, An", Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre. "AFRICAN CARGO Greenwich Theatre, London. 2007" , Felix Cross MBE.Colette Lebrasse, "Say It Loud" (An African Cargo @ Greenwich Theatre), reviewed 1 September 2007. Her work as a dramatist has been characterised as "aiming to recuperate events and people marginalized by Western historiography, to centre indigenous African performance traditions, and to highlight African heroism ( Yaa Asantewa) and African suffering at the hands of whites ( An African Cargo)."M. C. Pearce, "Black British Theatre: A Transnational Perspective" (thesis), p. 254, University of Exeter, 2013.
Literary activism
She has worked continuously for diversity within the publishing industry, writing in a 1984 article in the New Statesman: "Is it enough to respond to a demand for books reflecting the presence of 'ethnic minorities' while perpetuating a system which does not actively encourage their involvement at all levels? The reality is that the appearance and circulation of books supposedly produced with these communities in mind is usually dependent on what the dominant white (male) community, which controls schools, libraries, bookshops and publishing houses, will permit."Margaret Busby, "Black Books", New Statesman, April 1984, quoted in Is it still a case of plus ça change? , The Bookseller, 4 November 2016. In the 1980s, she was a founding member of the organization Greater Access to Publishing (GAP),Margaret Busby, Is it still a case of plus ça change?, The Bookseller, 4 November 2016. . "Promoting diversity in publishing" , Editorial Training, 2 June 2010. which engaged in campaigns for increased Black representation in British publishing. "Greater Access to Publishing" records held at London Metropolitan Archives. "How do we stop UK publishing being so posh and white?" , The Guardian, 11 December 2015. Other members of this multi-racial group, which held a conference in November 1987 particularly to highlight publishing as an option for Black women, included Lennie Goodings, Maggie Scott, Ros de Lanerolle, Yvonne Collymore, Paula Kahn, Toks Williams, Kothai Christie, and Jacqui Roach.Margaret Andrews, Doing Nothing Is Not An Option: The Radical Lives of Eric & Jessica Huntley, UK: Krik Krak, 2014, p. 149.
Influence and recognition
In 2018, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote, The Voice newspaper listed Margaret Busby – alongside Kathleen Wrasama, Olive Morris, Connie Mark, Fanny Eaton, Diane Abbott, Lilian Bader, and Mary Seacole – among eight Black women who have contributed to the development of Britain.Leah Sinclair, "Suffrage 100: The Black Women Who Changed British History" , The Voice, 6 February 2018. Bustle magazine included Busby with Mary Prince, Claudia Jones, Evelyn Dove, Olive Morris, Olivette Otele, and Shirley Thompson on a list of "7 Black British Women Throughout History That Deserve To Be Household Names In 2019".Niellah Arboine, "7 Black British Women Throughout History That Deserve To Be Household Names In 2019" , Bustle, 8 March 2019. Busby was also named by the Evening Standard on a list of 14 "Inspirational black British women throughout history" (alongside Mary Seacole, Claudia Jones, Adelaide Hall, Olive Morris, Joan Armatrading, Tessa Sanderson, Doreen Lawrence, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Sharon White, Malorie Blackman, Diane Abbott, Zadie Smith and Connie Mark).Georgia Chambers, "Inspirational black British women throughout history" , London Evening Standard, 11 October 2018.
Honours and awards
See also
Further reading
Interviews and profiles
External links
Categories: 1944 Births, 20th-century British Women Writers, 20th-century Ghanaian Women Writers, Alumni Of Bedford College, London, Black British Radio Presenters, Black British Women Writers, Black British Writers, Book Publishing Company Founders, British Anthologists, British Book Editors, British Publishers, British Women Dramatists And Playwrights, British Women Journalists, British Women Radio Presenters, Commanders Of The Order Of The British Empire, Fellows Of The Royal Society Of Literature, Ghanaian Dramatists And Playwrights, Ghanaian Emigrants To England, Ghanaian Publishers, Ghanaian Women Journalists, Ghanaian Women Radio Presenters, Ghanaian Radio Presenters, Ghanaian Women Writers, Living People, People Associated With Oxford Brookes University, People Associated With Royal Holloway, University Of London, People Associated With The University Of Exeter, Women Anthologists, Women Book Publishers, Women In Publishing
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