Margaret Busby

Margaret Busby
CBE, Hon. FRSL
Busby in February 2019
Born
Margaret Yvonne Busby

1944 (age 79–80)
Accra, Gold Coast (now Ghana)
Other namesNana Akua Ackon
Alma materBedford College, London University
Occupations
  • Publisher
  • editor
  • writer
  • broadcaster
Notable workDaughters of Africa (1992)
New Daughters of Africa (2019)
RelativesMoira Stuart (cousin)
Phyllis Christian (cousin)
Clara Marguerite Christian (aunt)
Essi Matilda Forster (aunt)
Kathryn Busby (niece)
Busby's voice
recorded February 2019

Margaret Yvonne Busby, CBE, Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisher[1][2] when she and Clive Allison (1944–2011) co-founded[3] the London-based publishing house Allison and Busby (A & B) in the 1960s.[4] She edited the anthology Daughters of Africa (1992), and its 2019 follow-up New Daughters of Africa.[5] She is a recipient of the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature.[6] In 2020 she was voted one of the "100 Great Black Britons".[7] In 2021, she was honoured with the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award.[8] In 2023, Busby was named as president of English PEN.

  1. ^ "Margaret Busby" Archived 21 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine, African Writing Online, October/November 2007.
  2. ^ Jazzmine Breary, "Let's not forget" Archived 31 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, in Writing the Future: Black and Asian Writers and Publishers in the UK Market Place, Spread the Word, April 2013, p. 30.
  3. ^ Margaret Busby, "Clive Allison obituary" Archived 11 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 3 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Black History Month in Britain: Great women you should know about" Archived 15 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Newsround, BBC, 1 October 2018.
  5. ^ Margaret Busby, "From Ayòbámi Adébáyò to Zadie Smith: meet the New Daughters of Africa", The Guardian, 9 March 2019.
  6. ^ Natasha Onwuemezi, "Busby to compile anthology of African women writers" Archived 21 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine, The Bookseller, 15 December 2017.
  7. ^ "100 Great Black Britons" Archived 12 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine, 2020.
  8. ^ "This Is My Story: Margaret Busby" Archived 23 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine, The Hub, London Book Fair, 26 October 2021.