Photo: Chris McKenna / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo and pioneering publisher Margaret Busby have been appointed patrons of the Black British Book Festival.
A major literary endorsement
The appointments bring together two figures whose work has widened the space for Black voices in British publishing over several decades.
DGBN has also reported on Doctors said I was too young to have endometriosis at 13 – I had to take morphine to cope.
Original source: Original source.
Evaristo, the author of Girl, Woman, Other, became the first Black woman to win the Booker Prize in 2019. Busby, co-founder of Allison & Busby and editor of the landmark Daughters of Africa anthologies, is widely recognised as Britain’s first Black woman publisher.
The Black British Book Festival has announced the pair as patrons before its fifth annual event at London’s Barbican Centre on Sunday 4 October. The festival says it expects to bring together 6,000 people and more than 80 authors and creatives for a programme spanning books, poetry, music, science, family events and publishing workshops.
Why it matters
Patronage from Evaristo and Busby gives the festival backing from two women whose careers have challenged an industry long criticised for failing to reflect Britain’s racial diversity.
For more context, read DGBN’s coverage of Caribbean Music Awards makes historic Trinidad debut as Lady Lava leads winners.
The festival itself has pointed to persistent inequalities in publishing, including a sharp drop in ethnic-minority representation at senior levels. It argues that meaningful change requires more than occasional high-profile successes: it needs sustained investment in Black writers, editors, publishers and readers.
That makes the appointments more than ceremonial. Both patrons represent distinct but connected parts of the Black British literary story: Busby’s decades of institution-building and advocacy, and Evaristo’s breakthrough mainstream recognition alongside her long record of supporting Black creative work.
Festival returns to the Barbican
The 2026 programme is set to feature writers and artists including Candice Carty-Williams, Corinne Bailey Rae and Wretch 32, alongside poetry, children’s storytelling and sessions for aspiring authors.
A new partnership with Pan Macmillan is also due to offer a route for emerging writers to develop towards publication. The festival is positioning the initiative as a practical response to barriers that have often limited entry into the industry.
For Black readers and writers, Evaristo and Busby joining as patrons signals that the festival is consolidating its place as a serious cultural institution, not simply a yearly showcase. Their involvement links newer generations of storytellers with the Black women who helped make today’s literary landscape possible.
Related DGBN reporting includes Masicka to headline first Forever1NE Music Festival in hometown Portmore.
The Black British Book Festival takes place at the Barbican Centre in London on 4 October 2026.