28 Facts About Margaret Busby

Margaret Busby was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book publisher in the UK when she and Clive Allison co-founded the London-based publishing house Allison and Busby in the 1960s.

Margaret Busby edited the anthology Daughters of Africa, and its 2019 follow-up New Daughters of Africa.

Margaret Busby is a recipient of the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature.

In 2023, Busby was named as president of English PEN.

Margaret Yvonne Busby was born in 1944, in Accra, Gold Coast.

Margaret Busby's parents were Dr George Busby and Mrs Sarah Busby, who both had family links to the Caribbean, particularly to Trinidad, Barbados and Dominica.

Margaret Busby's grandfather was Dominica-born George James Christian, a delegate at the First Pan-African Conference, in London, in 1900, who migrated to the Gold Coast in 1902.

Margaret Busby's parents sent their three children to be educated in England, when Busby was five.

Margaret Busby graduated with a BA Honours degree, at the age of 20.

Margaret Busby was married to British jazz musician and educator, Lionel Grigson.

Margaret Busby was editorial director of Earthscan, before pursuing a freelance career as an editor, writer, and critic, from the early 1990s.

Hamish Hamilton will publish a collection of Margaret Busby's collected writings, titled Part of the Story: Writings from Half a Century, in 2026.

Margaret Busby compiled Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present, described by Black Enterprise as "a landmark", which includes contributions in a range of genres by more than 200 women.

Margaret Busby edited a 2019 follow-up volume entitled New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent, featuring another 200-plus writers from across the African diaspora.

In 2014, Margaret Busby co-authored with Ishmahil Blagrove Carnival: A Photographic and Testimonial History of the Notting Hill Carnival.

Margaret Busby was a prominent participant in the major 2019 exhibition Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers at Somerset House, and contributed an introductory essay for the catalogue, as well as participating in events there.

Margaret Busby has been a song lyricist, acknowledged by singer Norma Winstone.

Margaret Busby was the patron of Independent Black Publishers, a trade association chaired by Verna Wilkins.

Margaret Busby was appointed chair of the 2020 Booker Prize judges, other members of the panel including Lee Child, Sameer Rahim, Lemn Sissay, and Emily Wilson.

Margaret Busby has previously judged several other literary competitions, among them the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Orange Prize, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the Wasafiri New Writing Prize, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the Commonwealth Book Prize, the Hay Festival initiative Africa39, and the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa.

Margaret Busby is currently a trustee of jazz education organization Tomorrow's Warriors, and Prize Ambassador of the SI Leeds Literary Prize.

Margaret Busby is a patron of Friends of the Huntley Archives at London Metropolitan Archives, a charitable foundation building on the archival legacy of Jessica Huntley and Eric Huntley, co-founders of the publishing house Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications.

Margaret Busby was named by the Evening Standard on a list of 14 "Inspirational black British women throughout history".

Margaret Busby helped change the landscape of both UK publishing and arts coverage and so many Black British artists owe her a debt.

Margaret Busby was named on the 2020 list of 100 Great Black Britons, voted on by the public and with a scope of 400 years.

Margaret Busby was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to publishing.

Margaret Busby has been awarded a number of honorary degrees including from the Open University, SOAS, and from Royal Holloway, where the conferral took place in June 2021 with the oration being given by Professor Lavinia Greenlaw.

In June 2022, Margaret Busby received an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter.