Events
Meet the Industry: Margaret Busby: Stories from a pioneering publisher's extraordinary life journey
Publisher Margaret Busby with interviewer Azieb Pool, and details of Brighton Book Festival event © Brighton Book Festival
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Margaret Busby CBE, Hon. FRSL (Nana Akua Ackon) is a major cultural figure around the world. Her career has spanned work as a publisher, editor, interviewer, reviewer, scriptwriter, lyricist, radio and TV presenter, activist and mentor. She has judged prestigious literary prizes, including the Booker. In 2023, she was appointed President of English PEN.
She became Britain’s then youngest and first Black woman publisher when she co-founded Allison & Busby in the 1960s. As A&B’s editorial director for twenty years, she published an international list of more than 300 notable authors. She has edited two ground-breaking anthologies that together champion the work of more than 400 women of African descent over several centuries.
She has written numerous dramatizations and radio abridgements of books by, among others, Jean Rhys, Wole Soyinka, Walter Mosely, and Henry Louis Gates.
She has saved writers such as CLR James and George Lamming from obscurity by reprinting their works, and as a founding member of Greater Access to Publishing (GAP), she campaigned for greater diversity in the publishing industry
Margaret is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and recipient of multiple honorary doctorates and awards.
Margaret Busby’s own collected writings, Part of the Story: Writings from Half a Century, will be published by Hamish Hamilton in 2026. With little attention previously given to her own skills as a writer, Part of the Story is a unique opportunity to enjoy her own remarkable literary output. It brings together her writings on people, places, politics and publishing, and provides a rich insight into the many elements that have contributed to shaping her life, from her childhood in Ghana to the Black writers, intellectuals, artists and activists she has worked with, befriended, supported and championed for over half a century.
Hosted by Azieb Pool, a senior creative leader, arts strategist, and writer, passionate about the power of culture to connect people, unlock hidden stories, and spark radical change. From 2019 to 2025, she led the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in London, UK, helping it become a nationally recognised home for bold, Black-led creativity. During her tenure, she secured Arts Council England National Portfolio status for the first time in BGAC’s history, founded the Tottenham Literature Festival and BGAC Windrush Festival, and developed exciting partnerships with brilliant organisations including Talawa, Dance Umbrella, LIFT, Greater London Authority, National Youth Theatre, Punchdrunk, and major funders such as Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Freelands Foundation, and Barings Foundation.
Our Sponsor - The Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research
The Brighton Book Festival is grateful to the Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research at the University of Sussex for sponsoring this event. The University of Sussex strives to work with partners for the common good, creating a society in which people, places and responsible technologies thrive.
Contact
media-arts-humanities@sussex.ac.uk
+44 (0)1273 678001
