We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Bonnie Greer OBE, playwright, novelist, critic, and one of the most formidable cultural voices Britain has known. Born on the West Side of Chicago, Bonnie made Britain her home in 1986 and spent four decades challenging conversations around race, identity, culture and belonging. Through her novels, plays, memoir and biography of Langston Hughes, she brought depth, honesty and complexity to stories that deserved to be heard. As Deputy Chairman of the British Museum, Chancellor of Kingston University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she brought her courage and candour to every space she entered, including many where Black women had not previously been welcomed. Bonnie also believed deeply in the responsibility established authors have to nurture the next generation, and she lived that belief with extraordinary generosity. We will miss her warmth, her courage and her distinctive voice, sharp, generous and unafraid. Her legacy will continue through the writers, readers and communities she inspired. Rest in power, Bonnie. From all of us at the Black British Book Festival