The Essay - Sara Collins on Una Marson
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Trailblazing Jamaican broadcaster Una Marson is rightly celebrated for being the BBC's first black producer and founding an innovative radio programme. But why has her own poetry been neglected? Author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton, and herself no stranger to the airwaves, Sara Collins goes in search of Marson's voice.
75 years ago, the revolutionary Caribbean Voices strand was established on the BBC's Overseas Service. Every week for over a decade, it gave exposure to emerging writers from the region such as Sam Selvon, Derek Walcott and VS Naipaul - many for the first time. Delving into the BBC's Written Archives, five writers explore five important literary figures who contributed to the programme throughout the 1940s and 50s. The result is part archival treasure hunt, part cultural history and part personal reflection on the people behind the landmark institution.
Producer: Ciaran Bermingham
Published on Monday, 28th June 2021.
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