The Independent [online]

'Art of Africa: The 50 best African artists'
1 December 2006

The 50 greatest cultural figures shaping a continent

Drawing on her Sierra Leonian background for an uplifting story about a child soldier, Moses, Citizen & Me (2005), Jarrett-Macauley's confident first novel did not enjoy the sort of hype that greeted, say, Helen Oyayemi. But a measure of her accomplishment in dealing with sensitivity, humour and empathy with disturbing material is that the novel won the George Orwell Prize for political writing. Already the author of The Life of Una Marson, 1905-65, a biography of the first black programme-maker at the BBC, Jarrett-Macauley exemplifies the African diasporic talent that has continued to invigorate mainstream English literature.

The panel:

• Baaba Maal, musician
• Owusu Ankomah, artist
• Ian Birrell, deputy editor of The Independent and expert on African music
• Margaret Busby, writer and broadcaster
• Augustus Casely-Hayford, director of the Institute of International Visual Arts and programme director for Africa 05
• Thelma Holt, theatre producer
• Frances Harding, lecturer in African drama at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London
• Gregory Maqoma, artistic director of the Vuyani Dance Theater, Johannesburg
• Keith Shiri, director of Africa at the Pictures

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