The British-American novelist, playwright and commentator Bonnie Greer has died aged 77.
In a statement, her husband David Hutchins said that she died on Tuesday evening following a brief illness.
Greer’s “intelligence, courage and distinctive voice made an enduring contribution to British cultural and public life”, said Hutchins. “To me, she was my partner, confidante and inspiration, and I feel profoundly privileged to have shared my life with her.”
Born on November 16th, 1948, Greer moved from the US to the UK in 1986, and became a citizen in 1997.
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Greer’s work – which often focused on the lives of minorities, and of women – spanned novels, nonfiction, plays and broadcasting.
Her first book, Hanging By Her Teeth, published in 1994, was a novel about a black American woman travelling through the US and Europe in search of her father.
Her later books included Obama Music (2009), about her and the former US president’s connections to Chicago’s South Side, and Langston Hughes: The Value of Contradiction (2011), a biography of the Harlem Renaissance figure. In 2022, she was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
[ Bonnie Greer: ‘Ireland needs to understand the world is changing’Opens in new window ]
Greer regularly appeared as a panellist on BBC’s Newsnight Review and Question Time. She served on the boards of Britain’s Royal Opera House, the British Museum and the London Film School, and was chancellor of Kingston University, London.
Hutchins said that “those closest to Bonnie will remember her warmth, humour, generosity and extraordinary ability to bring people together”. – Guardian
