Calling Una Marson

Authors: June Sarpong & Jennifer Obidike

United Kingdom, Great Britain | Radio | Biography: general | Biography: arts & entertainment | Social discrimination & inequality | Black & Asian studies

Published on 27^th February 2025 by HarperCollins Publishers (Akan Books) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 288 pages
241mm x 164mm x 31mm | 522g

The groundbreaking story of the BBC’s first Black woman broadcaster—finally brought to light.

Una Marson was unstoppable—a poet whose words lit up hearts, a broadcaster who made history in 1941 as the first Black woman on the BBC, and an activist who fought fiercely for racial and gender equality. She brought Caribbean culture to the global stage, challenged prejudice head-on, and dared to imagine a better world. Yet history nearly erased her.

From the streets of 1920s Kingston, Jamaica, to the heart of British broadcasting during World War II, Una’s journey was one of resilience, ambition, and brilliance. She shared ideas with George Orwell, held her ground with T.S. Eliot, and used her voice to amplify the silenced while navigating a world unprepared for her genius.

Calling Una Marson restores this trailblazing woman to her rightful place in history. Through meticulous research and vivid storytelling, it celebrates her dazzling, difficult life and the legacy of courage, creativity, and justice she left behind.