A much honoured author, journalist, publisher and broadcaster is on-Island this week to offer some of her considerable insights about the publishing world to the Island's budding writers

Dr. Margaret Busby's career achievements are too many to list but include being awarded an OBE in 2006, an honorary doctorate from Open University at Ely Cathedral in 2004 and her radio play 'Minty Alley' winning a 1999 Race in the Media Award (RIMA) from the Commission for Racial Equality.

She has been invited to the Island by the Bermuda College's Division of Liberal Arts' Literature Series and The Department of Community and Cultural Affairs for two free public presentations today and tomorrow.

Dr. Busby is the editor of 'Daughter's Of Africa: An International Anthology of Words by Women of African Decent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present (1992)', as well as a playwright, critic, consultant and broadcaster. She has served as a judge for many literary awards, including the Orange Prize, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the Caine Prize for African Writing.

After graduating from London University, she became the UK's youngest and first black woman publisher when she co-founded Allison & Busby Ltd, of which she was editorial director for 20 years. Later she was appointed editorial director of Earthscan Publications until 1990 and published classics of the post-colonial world by authors such as Han Suyin, Frantz Fanon, Alfred Memmi, René Dumont and Carolina Maria de Jesus.

"I started way back when, and I am not telling you how old I am, but it was a long time ago, but it was in the late 60s," Dr. Busby told The Royal Gazette of starting out in the publishing world with Allison & Busby which still bears her name although she is not longer directly involved.

"I'm black obviously and I was publishing things that I was interested in, that I believed in and a number of them (authors) were black, but it was an international list. I wasn't being patronising to black writers, I was publishing good writers, a number of whom happened to be black.

"There were writers from all over the world. In fact, the best thing that anybody ever said about Allison & Busby was 'you never know what they are going to next, but you knew it was going to be interesting'.

"We took chances, we published things that other people didn't want to publish, we re-printed things that should not have gone out of print. It was fun but it was hard work.

"I think publishing is an important thing because so many people want to be writers but how many people do you know who want to be publishers.

"'Daughters of Africa' was first published in 1992. "I was going to do a book on, not only black British writers, but black writers from around the world, every language, every genre, as far back as when," Dr. Busby said.

"I was not only going for written work, it included some traditional oral work and that is why the title is of words and writing, it is not just dismissing people who were necessarily not writing things down.

"We have a rich tradition of oral literature, oratory, stories told by your mother, your grandmother and that is how stories got passed on.

"The African diaspora spreads far and wide and Dr. Busby worked to show this in her popular anthology.

"I remember going to an event once and there was this black woman there and she looked to me as if she was Nigerian and then when I tried to talk to her, she couldn't speak English very well," she said. The woman, Ayse Bircan, turned out to be from Turkey. "She looked just like a native-born African and I got her to write something about her life.

"So it was just to prove that there were women of African descent, whether it was Turkey, Russia or Germany and that there were things that we share, things that were different, making connections.

"I think that it is important to keep those connections open, because each of us is a mini Diaspora.

"She continued: "When I think of my family, I was born here, moved there, and we have connections in all sorts of places.

"I was born in Ghana, so was my mother. But my father was born in Barbados and as a baby he grew up in Trinidad, studied in Ireland, he practiced in London.

"My mother's father was born in Dominica and moved to London in 1899, went Ghana in 1918 and his father was born in Antigua. So I have family in Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, Ghana, different parts of Africa and Nashville, Tennessee, I might even have the odd Bermudian connection.

"Dr. Busby now hopes to revise the anthology to include some more recent literary voices. "How do I get away with adding all of the writers who were not writing 15 years ago Zadie Smith... all of them who have come up in the last decade, that should be in this book.

"So, that's going to be my next battle."

Dr. Busby has many lessons to offer aspiring writers whether they are looking towards fiction or non-fiction writing.

"One thing that I am always encouraging people to do is to talk to your older members of your family, to get that wisdom, because there is that African saying that 'when an older person dies, it is like a library burning down'," she said. "You need to hold onto that history and pass it onto the next generation.

"Have you interviewed your mother? Why were you called René? What time of day were you born? What time was your mother or grandmother born? What is her earliest memory?

"What did she feel like when you were born? Do you give her a present on your birthday?

"Who was doing the work on your birthday? Why do you deserve it? I used to give my mother a present on my birthday.

"Every writer must start somewhere, she said, and writer's block can be overcome.

"Suppose I was to ask you a question about your life you would start somewhere," she said.

"And you don't have to think where you would start, you would say something, 'I remember this'. You might shape it later but you wouldn't be dumb, you would be able to tell me something.

"It doesn't mean that the first thing you write or say is perfect. You have to start somewhere and you have to start with structure, you can reshape things, you can revise things and you can throw it away and start again

"But what you don't want to do is limit yourself with 'I can't do it, because it won't be perfect,' because nothing is perfect and none of us are perfect.

"Publishing can be a goal but should not be the driving reason for writing.

"It will be as good as it can be and maybe it won't get published and maybe it will," Dr. Busby said. "Maybe you will get satisfaction out of it and maybe you won't. But if it is something you want to do, then don't let anybody stop you

"For those who are interested in self-publishing, she said: "That is the kind of thing that I would encourage people to do that is always an option, as long as you can go along with what the requirements are

"You also have to know your market and there is no point going to a particular sort of publisher if your work doesn't fit what they d

"And there is no good complaining that they are against me, prejudiced or against my book, because it could also mean that it is just not good enough and if you believe in it enough, then perhaps you might think that it is something that I should just do myself.

"Above all writers need to assess what they really want.

"The question is, why do people want to get published? What do they want to do? Do they have a message that they think that everybody has to hear? Do they just want to see their name on a book? Is it a vanity thing? It is one thing to have a book but do they sell them or are they just in their living rooms?"One of the things that I tell people is don't be a writer, unless you can't not be a writer.

"If this is a burning thing, not 'oh, I think I'll be a writer', then make your living some other way, because you are not going to be fulfilled. It's no easy task

"So it is nothing to do unless you really can't not do it.

"If you need to do it, whether or not you are published, then be a writer if you need to do it whether or not someone buys your book. Don't do it because you want to become rich and famous, because that it is not a reason to become a writer.

"Understanding what makes a good book takes reading and the discipline of writing every day, she added.[

:Dr. Busby will present at the Bermuda College today from 4.30 to 6 p.m. on 'Daughters of the Diaspora'.Tomorrow's presentation will address 'The Business of Writing' and will take place between 6 and 8 p.m. Both lectures are free and will be held in the college's Blue Room.