Margaret Busby

‘An important and wonderful book . . . Margaret Busby gives us her heart within the pages, not to mention her wisdom and wit’ Irish Times This rare self-portrait from pioneering publisher, writer and cultural activist Margaret Busby underscores her powerful legacy and celebrates some of the people and places that have shaped her exceptional life Margaret Busby has been at the heart of cultural life in the UK for over 50 years. From becoming Britain’s youngest and first Black woman publisher when she founded publishing house Allison & Busby, to editing the ground-breaking international anthologies Daughters of Africa and New Daughters of Africa, her many achievements are testament to her dedication to championing the lives and stories of others, particularly those throughout the world who have been marginalised by the mainstream. 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. 'Fascinating and simply fantastic’ Bernardine Evaristo 'Incisive , unflinching, sharply funny and exact . . . Margaret Busby revolutionised literary London' Observer ‘Margaret Busby is one in a million, a pivotal figure in the literary world, a champion of the unheard, a fighter for literary excellence’ Lemn Sissay

This rare self-portrait from pioneering publisher, writer and cultural activist Margaret Busby underscores her powerful legacy and celebrates some of the people and places that have shaped her exceptional lifeMargaret Busby has been at the heart of cultural life in the UK for over 50 years. From becoming Britain’s youngest and first Black woman publisher when she founded publishing house Allison & Busby, to editing the ground-breaking international anthologies Daughters of Africa and New Daughters of Africa, her many achievements are testament to her dedication to championing the lives and stories of others, particularly those throughout the world who have been marginalised by the mainstream. 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.

The Front Room: Diaspora Migrant Aesthetics in the Home, originally published in 2009, has become a beloved and much-praised source, providing fascinating revelations into the post-war British experience of immigrants, the decoration of their living spaces and their position in society in relation to decolonisation. The 'front room' (emanating from the Victorian parlour) provides an outlet to respond to the feelings of displacement, exile and alienation and the rebuilding of a home in a strange land. Primarily concerned with Caribbean homes, The Front Room also looks at Moroccan, Surinamese, Antillean and Indonesian migrant groups in Holland—encompassing, through texts, archival documents and artistic photographs, the important cultural markers that are expressed through the domestic interiors of migrants. The author examines how this intimate space within the home raises issues of class, race, migration, aspiration, religion, family, gender, identity and alienation. He also looks at the transition from the colonial post-colonial modernity by placing the book in the context of his own family’s migrant experience. While this revised edition includes updates of the original essays from leading social commentators Stuart Hall, Denise Noble, Carol Tulloch and Dave Lewis, as well as poems by Khadijah Ibrahiim and Dorothea Smartt, and paintings by Sonia Boyce, Kimathi Donkor and Njideka Akunyili Crosby. It also examines the iteration of the 'front room' in post apartheid South Africa and discusses how sound system culture emerged from the front room, as well as adding to the rich oral histories from different generations reflecting on their personal experiences of the front room and discussing the artefacts and objects found in them in terms of their cultural significance. The Front Room documents how the 'Windrush' generation's settlement in Britain contributed to the making of multicultural society, and raises questions about our lived experience and notions of the ‘home’, as many more people globally look for a roof over their heads in the 21st century. The book is richly illustrated with intriguing photographs of installations based on front rooms of the time and the contemporary living room and their associated objects.

The companion to the classic anthology Daughters of Africa--a major international collection that brings together the work of more than 200 women writers of African descent, celebrating their artistry and showcasing their contributions to modern literature and international culture. Contributors include: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Yrsa Daley Ward - Edwidge Danticat - Phillippa Yrsa De Villiers - Esi Edugyan - Eve Ewing - Nikki Finney - Roxane Gay - Margo Jefferson - Barbara Jenkins - Imbolo Mbue - Nnedi Okorafor - Chinelo Okparanta - Minna Salami - Zadie Smith - and more Twenty-five years ago, Margaret Busby's Daughters of Africa was published to international acclaim and hailed as "an extraordinary body of achievement . . . a vital document of lost history" (Sunday Times) and "the ultimate reference guide" (Washington Post). New Daughters of Africa continues that tradition for a new generation. This magnificent follow-up to the original landmark anthology brings together fresh and vibrant voices that have emerged from across the globe in the past two decades, from Antigua to Zimbabwe and Angola to the United States. Key figures, including Margo Jefferson, Nawal El Saadawi, Edwidge Danticat, and Zadie Smith, join popular contemporaries such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Imbolo Mbue, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Taiye Selasi, and Chinelo Okparanta in celebrating the heritage that unites them. Each of the pieces in this remarkable collection demonstrates an uplifting sense of sisterhood, honors the strong links that endure from generation to generation, and addresses the common obstacles female writers of color face as they negotiate issues of race, gender, and class and address vital matters of independence, freedom, and oppression. A glorious portrayal of the richness, magnitude, and range of these visionary writers, New Daughters of Africa spans a range of genres--autobiography, memoir, oral history, letters, diaries, short stories, novels, poetry, drama, humor, politics, journalism, essays, and speeches--demonstrating the diversity and extraordinary literary achievements of black women who remain underrepresented, and whose contributions continue to be underrated in world culture today.