Colin Grant (born 1961,

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people, a tribe holding ...

, England) is a British writer of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

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

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...

entitled ''Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey and His Dream of Mother Africa''. Grant is also a historian, Associate Fellow in the Centre for Caribbean Studies and a BBC radio producer.

Biography

Early years

Grant grew up on a council estate in

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

, had a brother Christopher 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 The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. In 2009, a two-part documentary about ''

Caribbean Voices ''Caribbean Voices'' was a radio programme broadcast by the BBC World Service from Bush House in London, England, between 1943 and 1958. It is considered "the programme in which West Indian literary talents first found their voice, in the early ...

'' (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 underside of society, and hi ...

. 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 abolitionist, writer and composer. Born on a slave ship in the Atlantic, Sancho was sold into slavery in the Spanish colony of New Granada. After his parents died, Sancho's owne ...

'', ''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 published ...

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

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' as "eminently readable". In 2011, ''I & I – The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh, and Wailer'' was published, a group biography, about which

Lemn Sissay Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. Sissay was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has been chancellor of the University of Manchester since 2015, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trus ...

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; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements ...

Peter Tosh Winston Hubert McIntosh, OM (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 the Wailers (1963 ...

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 PEN Ackerley Prize (or, J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography) is awarded annually by English PEN for a literary autobiography of excellence, written by an author of British nationality and published during the preceding year. The winner receive ...

. Grant's next book, ''a Smell of Burning'', was a history of epilepsy and was chosen by ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British 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 News UK, whi ...

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

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a BBC Radio 4 series that is broadcast daily on week days. Each week, extracts from the selected book, usually a non-fiction work, are read over five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning (9:45a ...

''.

Personal life

Grant lives in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, UK, he moved there to escape

police harassment The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

. He lives there with Jo Alderson and their three children, Jasmine, Maya and Toby.

Books

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

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

, 2008;

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, 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, 2017 *''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 Jamaican non-fiction writers Black British writers Jamaican dramatists and playwrights Jamaican male writers Male dramatists and playwrights 1961 births Living people English people of Jamaican descent People from Hitchin People from Luton People educated at St Columba's College, St Albans Male non-fiction writers