I am delighted to take on the role of President of English PEN, an organisation supported by a vital community of writers and readers who, together, champion and celebrate courage in literature in all forms. It is an honour to join forces with the 100-year-old PEN movement, to play a part in continuing its legacy of promoting and advancing freedom of expression. Together with our colleagues in the global network of PEN centres and English PEN members, I look forward to helping enable the full potential of literature worldwide, with equality of opportunity for all. Freedom to write. Freedom to read.
Margaret Busby
Editor, writer, broadcaster, and literary critic Margaret Busby has been appointed President of English PEN, taking over the role from author and human rights lawyer Philippe Sands KC.
Born in Ghana and educated in the UK, Margaret Busby CBE, Hon. FRSL, became Britain’s youngest and first Black woman publisher when she co-founded Allison & Busby in the late 1960s. An editor, writer, broadcaster, and critic, she has also judged numerous literary prizes, including the Booker. She edited the pioneering volumes Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writing by Women of African Descent (1992) and in 2019 New Daughters of Africa, which also initiated a scholarship for African women at SOAS University of London.
Read more here: https://www.englishpen.org/posts/news/margaret-busby-appointed-president-of-english-pen/
