Una Marson

una marson

The extraordinary Jamaican poet, playwright, editor and producer became a radio sensation in the 1940s, but her name has been largely lost to history.

West Indies Calling

biography

a performance by kat francois

Bio performance

Una Marson, Our Lost Caribbean Voice

"You speak good English little brown girl, how is it you speak English as though it belonged to you?" Little Brown Girl - Una Marson

1905

1932

1941

Born in Jamaica

Came to London

The BBC's first black radio producer and presenter

Her experiences, activism and feminist politics informed the diverse forms and subject matter of her three volumes of poetry: Tropic Reveries (1930), Heights and Depths (1931), The Moth and the Star (1937), as well as her three plays, At What a Price? (1933), Pocomania (1938) and London Calling (1938).

BIO Performance

This performance by the artist Kat Francois was specially commissioned by IWM to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush. It gives Kat's response to the extraordinary lives of real people.