23 Facts About Lesley Lokko

Lesley Naa Norle Lokko was born on 1964 and is a Ghanaian-Scottish academic, and novelist.

Lesley Lokko returned to Accra, Ghana, in 2021 and established the African Futures Institute, a postgraduate school of architecture and public events platform.

In January 2024, Lesley Lokko was announced by the Royal Institute of British Architecture as recipient of the Royal Gold Medal, one of the world's highest honours for architecture.

Lesley Lokko was named on TIME magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People of 2024.

Lesley Lokko was born in 1964 in Dundee, the daughter of a Ghanaian surgeon and a Scottish Jewish mother, and grew up in Ghana and Scotland.

Lesley Lokko began studying Hebrew and Arabic at Oxford University, but left the programme to go to the United States.

Lesley Lokko graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, with a BSc degree in 1992, and a MArch in 1995, and went on to earn a PhD in architecture from the University of London in 2007.

Much of Lesley Lokko's writing contains themes about cultural and racial identity.

Lesley Lokko has frequently lectured in South Africa, and has taught in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Lesley Lokko was editor of White Papers, Black Marks: Race, Culture, Architecture, and editor-in-chief of FOLIO: Journal of Contemporary African Architecture, as well as being on the editorial board of ARQ, and a series editor of Design Research in Architecture.

In 2004, Lesley Lokko published her first novel, Sundowners, a Guardian top 40 bestseller, following up with 11 further novels, including Saffron Skies, Bitter Chocolate, One Secret Summer, A Private Affair and Little White Lies.

Lesley Lokko then moved back to the United Kingdom for almost a decade, teaching architecture at Kingston University, University of North London and, finally, at the University of Westminster, where she established the current Master of Arts programme in the pathway of Architecture, Cultural Identity and Globalisation.

Lesley Lokko was first appointed visiting African scholar at the University of Cape Town upon her return to South Africa.

In 2015, Lesley Lokko became head of the newly established Graduate School and associate professor of architecture at the University of Johannesburg.

Lesley Lokko founded the GSA at a time of political imperatives in South Africa and witnessed the large-scale student protests, with the uprising conscious of national identity in postcolonial South Africa.

In 2021, Lesley Lokko was appointed as the curator of the 18th Venice Biennale of Architecture, set to open in 2023.

Lesley Lokko became the first ever black curator of the Biennale.

In 2020, Lesley Lokko was awarded the RIBA Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Architectural Education.

In 2023, Lesley Lokko was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours for services to architecture and education.

In January 2024, Lesley Lokko was announced by the Royal Institute of British Architects as the recipient of the Royal Gold Medal, one of the world's highest honours for architecture, given in recognition of a lifetime's work to people who have had a significant influence either directly or indirectly on the advancement of architecture.

Lesley Lokko remains a humble revolutionary force, with her ambition and optimism etching an indelible mark on the global architectural stage.

In 2024, Lesley Lokko featured on the Time 100 list of the top 100 most influential people in the world.

In December 2024, Lesley Lokko was included on the BBC's 100 Women list.