Bonnie Greer is an American-British playwright, novelist, critic, broadcaster and former deputy chair of the British Museum. This Friday 21st February, the museum plays host to the first of a series of events that form part of her ‘Era of Reclamation’ series. This follows the success of the audible series ‘In Search of Black History with Bonnie Greer’. Friday’s event explores the contribution of the Caribbean region (‘Meta Africa as described by Greer) and its peoples. She will be joined by a panel of special guests including the award-winning Jamaican British playwright Patricia Cumper MBE, acclaimed actor and director Jacques Martial, and writer, broadcaster and cultural figure, Margaret Busby OBE.
Patricia Cumper MBE, is an award-winning playwright, producer, director, arts administrator, and cultural leader. Born in Jamaica, she studied Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University. Returning to the Caribbean after graduation, Cumper became an award-winning playwright and producer in Caribbean theatre. Her work has been performed throughout the Caribbean, Canada, and the US. Returning to Britain in the early 1990s, Cumper founded Talawa, the UK’s largest black-led theatre company which has produced ground-breaking work, successfully collaborating with the West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and English Touring Theatre.
Jacques Martial is an accomplished theatre director, film and TV actor, known in French-speaking countries for his role in the popular TV series Navarro. He is also the French voice of actors Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, and Wesley Snipes. He was the chair of the Mémorial ACTe, the Caribbean Center for the Expression and Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Slavery, in Guadeloupe and created his own theater company, La Compagnie de la Comédie Noire, in the year 2000. From 2006 to 2015, he was Chair of the Parc de la Villette, one of the largest public cultural venues in France.
Margaret Busby OBE, Hon. FRSL (Nana Akua Ackon) is a major cultural figure in Britain and around the world. Born in Ghana and graduating from London University, Busby became Britain’s youngest and first black woman publisher when she co-founded Allison & Busby in the late 1960s. Allision & Busby published notable authors including Buchi Emecheta, Nuruddin Farah, Rosa Guy, C. L. R. James, Michael Moorcock and Jill Murphy. A writer, editor, broadcaster and literary critic, she has also written drama for BBC radio and the stage. She is also known for interviewing high-profile writers including Toni Morrison and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, judging prestigious literary prizes and serving on the boards of many notable institutes, including the Royal Literary Fund, Wasafiri magazine, Tomorrow’s Warriors, and the Africa Centre in London. The series provides a challenging, thought-provoking and radical forum for debate on one of the most vital issues facing museums and cultural spaces in the UK and globally: reclamation. Reclamation entails ownership not only of ourselves and our identities but of what we believe belongs to us, as well as wider questions of identity, belonging, diversity and interconnection. For more information please visit the British Museum website .
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