Delia Jarrett-Macauley

Delia Jarrett-Macauley, born to Sierra Leonean parents, is the Orwell Prize winning novelist of Moses, Citizen and Me, and she wrote The Life of Una Marson 1905-1965. Promoting Una’s story through various channels - talks, TV and radio broadcasts, a Google Doodle, and unveiling her blue plaque in Camberwell, Delia has resurrected this little-known Jamaican feminist from obscurity. 

Since gaining her PhD, she’s held fellowships at the LSE and Warwick but is usually working with arts groups - UK and overseas. For instance, she voiced Alice Walker’s film on FGM. Following her race and Shakespeare book, The Diverse Bard, she toured China, ran writing workshops in Nairobi and made a short film in Italy. Passionate about black women’s history, she’s contributed to several books, journals, panels, and recently, festivals in Germany. Delia’s been awarded Arts Council Writers Awards and included in the Powerlist. She’s also served in the literary awards sector, chairing the 2021 Orwell Prize for Fiction, and as Chair of the Caine Prize for African Writing.