Colin Grant (born 1961,

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

, England) is a British writer of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n origin, who is the author of several books, including a 2008 biography of

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...

entitled ''Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey and His Dream of Mother Africa'' and a 2012 memoir, '' Bageye at the Wheel''. Grant is also a historian, Associate Fellow in the Centre for Caribbean Studies and was a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio producer.

Biography

Early years

Colin Grant was born in England to Jamaican immigrant parents. He grew up on a council estate in

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

, had a brother Christopher (who died from epilepsy) and attended St Columba's College, St Albans.

Career

Grant joined the BBC in 1991, and has worked as a TV script editor and radio producer of arts and science programmes on Radio 4 and on the World Service. In 2009, a two-part documentary about '' Caribbean Voices'' (1943–1958) was produced by Grant. He has written and directed plays, including ''The Clinic'', based on the lives of the photojournalists Tim Page and

Don McCullin Sir Donald McCullin (born 9 October 1935) is a British photojournalist, particularly recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialised in examining the Social documentary photograph ...

. Among several radio drama-documentaries he has written and produced are ''African Man of Letters: The Life of

Ignatius Sancho Charles Ignatius Sancho ( – 14 December 1780) was a British Abolitionism, abolitionist, writer and composer. Considered to have been born on a British slave ship in the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Sancho was sold by the British slave traders in ...

'', ''A Fountain of Tears: The Murder of Federico Garcia Lorca'', and ''Move Over Charlie Brown: The Rise of Boondocks''. Grant's first book was the biography ''Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey and His Dream of Mother Africa'' (2008), described in '' The Jamaica Gleaner'' as "magisterial, meticulously researched", in ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' as "drawing on gargantuan research", and in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as "eminently readable". In 2011, ''I & I: The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh, and Wailer'' was published, a group biography, about which Lemn Sissay said: "Colin Grant has cleverly personified the birth of a nation, the birth of a religion and the birth of reggae through the lives of

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

Peter Tosh Winston Hubert McIntosh (19 October 1944 – 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band Bob Marley and the Wa ...

and

Bunny Wailer Neville O'Riley Livingston (10 April 1947 – 2 March 2021), known professionally as Bunny Wailer, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. ...

." This was followed in 2012 by '' Bageye at the Wheel'', a memoir about growing up Jamaican in Luton that was shortlisted for the PEN/Ackerley Prize. In 2016, Grant published the memoir ''A Smell of Burning'', about which Maggie Gee wrote in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'': "Colin Grant's brilliant, tender book is really two books: a history of our incomplete understanding of the puzzling brain phenomenon that is epilepsy, and the story of his beloved brother Christopher." It was chosen by ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' as a Book of the Year 2016. In his 2019 book, ''Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation'', which was a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a long-running BBC Radio 4 series, first broadcast in 1998. It features daily readings from an abridged version of a selected book read over five or occasionally ten weekday episodes. Each episode is approximately 15 min ...

'', "Grant collates fragments from several hundred interviews, first-hand and archival, with a cross-section of Caribbean immigrants to Britain from the 1940s and early 60s, and allows his subjects to speak for themselves in idiosyncratic statements that refuse to be co-opted into a generalized account of immigrant experience." In 2023, his memoir ''I'm Black So You Don't Have To Be'' was published, its title described by ''The Guardian'' as "a jab at the privileges of the children of the Windrush generation who, hell-bent on being accepted by British society, have left the labour of Blackness to their parents." Having left the BBC in 2018, Grant is now director of WritersMosaic, a division of the

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its lon ...

Personal life

Grant lives in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, where he moved to escape

police harassment The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizen ...

("I got fed up with being stopped and searched in London by the police," he has said). He lives there with Jo Alderson and their three children, Jasmine, Maya and Toby.

Bibliography

*''Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey and His Dream of Mother Africa'', London:

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

, 2008;

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, United States, 2008 *''I & I: The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh, and Wailer'', London: Jonathan Cape, 2011; New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011 *'' Bageye at the Wheel'', London: Jonathan Cape, 2012 *''A Smell of Burning: The Story of Epilepsy'', London: Jonathan Cape, 2016 *''Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation'', London: Jonathan Cape, 2019 *''I'm Black So You Don’t Have to Be'', London: Jonathan Cape, 2023

References

External links

* * Rob Sharp
"A Page in the Life: Colin Grant"
''The Telegraph'', 11 May 2012.
Interview
with Colin Grant on "New Books in African American Studies". {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Colin 1961 births Black British writers British male dramatists and playwrights British radio producers English people of Jamaican descent Jamaican dramatists and playwrights Jamaican male non-fiction writers Jamaican non-fiction writers Living people Male non-fiction writers People educated at St Columba's College, St Albans People from Hitchin People from Luton