About this episode
Margaret Busby discusses her influential role in publishing and promoting black arts over nearly 60 years.
Margaret Busby is a publisher and editor who's helped change our literary landscape. She's been lauded by the writer Zadie Smith as the cheerleader, instigator, organiser, defender and celebrator of black arts, something she's done for nearly 60 years. She started young - she was just 23 years old when she co-founded the publishers Allison and Busby with Clive Allison in 1967. Free from the usual industry rules and with little money or experience, they began with five shilling poetry paperbacks and went on to champion new work as well as established writers from all backgrounds. Margaret's drive to showcase often overlooked or neglected talent led to two groundbreaking anthologies of women writers, Daughters of Africa and New Daughters of Africa. Margaret's music includes Bach and Chevalier de Saint-Georges, along with jazz greats Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. Radio 3 is celebrating the centenary of Miles Davis' birth in the coming week across numerous programmes including Composer of the Week, Round Midnight and The Essay.
People in this episode
Guest: Margaret Busby
Topics covered
- literary landscape
- black arts
- women writers
- music
- publishing
- anthologies
Keywords
- Margaret Busby
- Zadie Smith
- Allison and Busby
- women writers
- Daughters of Africa
- Miles Davis
- jazz
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Allison and Busby
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