Margaret Busby, OBE was the UK’s first black woman publisher when she co-founded Allison & Busby Ltd, of which she was editorial director for 20 years. She was subsequently editorial director of Earthscan. Margaret edited the pioneering anthology Daughters of…
Valerie Brandes has over 10 years book trade experience both in the UK and in the USA and is a proud graduate of the MA Publishing Studies at City University London. She left Profile Books to set up Jacaranda Books…
Louisa Bello is an English-Nigerian ESL teacher, writer and poet living in London. She has travelled extensively and taught in Australia, China, Ecuador, Italy and Holland. She also works for The Pelican Post, a charity which promotes reading skills in…
Bibi Bakare-Yusuf is co-founder and publishing director of one of Africa’s most important publishing houses, Cassava Republic Press. She has worked as a gender and research consultant in the public, private and development sectors. She recently co-founded Tapestry Consulting, a…
Chinwe Azubuike was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Much of her work explores the relationship between traditional beliefs and modernity. Azubuike believes that culture is alive and, as a poet, she sees herself as part of a process of renewal. She…
Nana Ayebia Clarke MBE is a Ghanaian-born, award-winning publisher specializing in African and Caribbean writing. She was Submissions Editor of the Heinemann African & Caribbean Writers Series at Oxford for 12 years. In 2003, she founded Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd…
Efemia Chela was born in Zambia in 1991. She graduated with a BA in French, Politics and Classical Civilisations from Rhodes University. When she grows up she would like to be a midwife of great literature, a better writer, a…
Diane Awerbuck is the author of Gardening at Night (2003), which was awarded the Commonwealth Best First Book Award (Africa and the Caribbean) and was shortlisted for the International Dublin IMPAC Award. Her work has been published internationally and translated…
Ellah Wakatama Allfrey is an independent editor, literary critic and broadcaster. She is Deputy Chair of the Council of the Caine Prize for African Writing, a trustee of the Writers’ Centre Norwich and English PEN and a patron of the…
Andy Odunayo Akinwolere is a BAFTA-nominated broadcaster. In 2007 he became Blue Peter’s first ever black male presenter and went on to host the show for five years. Andy currently has plans to travel to Brazil and Sierra Leone to…