Product details
- ISBN 9780241686782
- Weight: 734g
- Dimensions: 165 x 241mm
- Publication Date: 26 Mar 2026
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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‘This fascinating and simply fantastic book is a comprehensive record of Margaret Busby’s exceptional life story . . . A true trailblazer, we all walk in the deep imprints of her footsteps’ Bernardine Evaristo
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.
‘Margaret has been a cheerleader, instigator, organiser, defender and celebrator of black arts for the past 50 years . . . She helped change the landscape of both UK publishing and arts coverage and so many Black British artists owe her a debt. I know I do’ Zadie Smith
Margaret Busby (Nana Akua Ackon), CBE, Hon. FRSL, is a publisher, editor, writer, broadcaster, activist and mentor. The recipient of numerous awards and honorary doctorates, she has judged prestigious literary prizes, including the Booker, and served on the boards of such organizations as the Royal Literary Fund, Wasafiri magazine, Tomorrow’s Warriors, the Africa Centre in London and the Caine Prize. In 2023 she was appointed President of English PEN.
As editorial director of Allison & Busby for twenty years, from the late 1960s, Margaret published an international list of more than three hundred notable authors – among them, Buchi Emecheta, Sam Greenlee, Roy Heath, Chester Himes, Jill Murphy and Val Wilmer – and found new audiences for the likes of C. L. R. James and George Lamming. She is the editor of Jane Cortez’s collected poems, Firespitter, as well as two groundbreaking anthologies, Daughters of Africa (1992) and its sequel, New Daughters of Africa (2019), which seeded the Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award to fund young women from Africa to study for a master’s degree in the UK.
