Margaret Busby wraps up Afrolit Sans Frontières Season 5.

Margaret Busby was the final guest of Season 5 of Afrolit Sans Frontières streaming from London, UK on Monday, August 3, 2020. She was hosted by Zukiswa Wanner.

Afrolit Sans Frontières, a virtual literary festival for writers of African origin, was founded by author and publisher Zukiswa Wanner as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic international lockdowns. The festival format is two sessions a day on Instagram Live with an artist moderated by a host who also fields questions from audience members. There have been four editions; Season 1 from March 23-30; Season 2 from April 20-27; Season 3 from May 25 – June 1; and Season 4 from June 29-July 6.

Season 5 kicked off on July 27 and festival goers have so far interacted with Lerato Mogoatlhe in Johannesburg, South Africa, Joe Khamisi in Texas, USA, Frances Mensah Williams in London, UK, Conceição Evaristo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Kayo Chingonyi in Leeds, UK, L.L. McKinney in Kansas City, USA, Gauz in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, Fiston Mwanza Mujila in Graz, Austria, Ondjaki in Luanda, Angola, Rodrigo França in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ashley Hickson-Lovence in London, UK, and Helon Habila in Centreville, VA, USA.

The final day of Season 5, the last for 2020, was Makanaka Mavengere in Johannesburg, South Africa before Margaret Busby wrapped up proceedings from London, UK. Margaret Busby is a major cultural figure around the world. Born in Ghana and educated in the UK, she became Britain’s youngest and first black woman publisher when she co-founded Allison & Busby in the 1960s. A writer, editor, broadcaster and literary critic, she has judged numerous literary awards, including the Booker Prize, received many honours and served on several boards, among them the Royal Literary Fund, Wasafiri and the Africa Centre in London.

Margaret Busby spoke about her career from publishing The Spook That Sat By The Door to Daughters of Africa and the newer New Daughters of Africa, and loads more. You can watch the guest and her host Zukiswa Wanner chatting in the below video.