Bonnie Greer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bonnie Greer
OBE FRSL
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Greer in 2017
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| Born | 16 November 1948 Chicago, Illinois, US |
| Occupation | Playwright, author, critic and broadcaster |
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| Spouse |
David Hutchins
(m. 1993) |
Bonnie Greer is a talented writer, author, and speaker. She was born in America in 1948 but has lived in the UK since 1986. You might have seen her on TV shows like Question Time. She has also helped lead important arts groups like the British Museum and the Royal Opera House.
Bonnie Greer is also a Vice President of the Shaw Society. She used to be the Chancellor of Kingston University in London. In July 2022, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. This is a special honor for writers.
Contents
About Bonnie Greer's Life and Work
Growing Up in Chicago
Bonnie Greer was born in Chicago, USA, on November 16, 1948. She was the oldest of seven children. Her father, Ben, worked in a factory. Her mother, Willie Mae, took care of their home.
Bonnie's father came from a family of sharecroppers in Mississippi. He served in Britain during World War II and was part of the D-Day landings.
Bonnie started writing plays when she was only nine years old. She first wanted to become a lawyer. However, she changed her mind when a professor told her women should not have law careers. Instead, she decided to study theatre. She learned from famous teachers like David Mamet in Chicago and Elia Kazan in New York.
Moving to the UK
In 1986, Bonnie Greer visited Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival. She decided to stay in Britain after that trip. She felt she needed to "escape the shadow of death" and the changing theatre scene in New York City. She became a British citizen in 1997.
Since moving to the UK, Bonnie has focused on theatre work. She often works with women and people from different ethnic backgrounds. She was a special writer for the Arts Council at the Soho Theatre. She also worked with Nitro, a theatre group now called NitroBeat. Bonnie even played Joan of Arc in a play in Paris.
Writing for Radio and Stage
Bonnie Greer has written many radio plays for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. One of her radio plays was a translation of The Little Prince.
Her plays include Munda Negra (1993), which looked at mental health issues for Black women. Other plays are Dancing on Blackwater (1994) and Jitterbug (2001). She also wrote musicals like Solid and Marilyn and Ella.
The musical Marilyn and Ella started as a radio play in 2005. Bonnie got the idea after watching a documentary about Marilyn Monroe. The documentary mentioned how Monroe helped jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. At the time, racial segregation stopped Ella from performing in some places, like the Mocambo nightclub. Bonnie's radio play was later turned into a stage show. It was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Theatre Royal Stratford East. In 2009, it even played at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End.
Bonnie has also written two novels: Hanging by Her Teeth (1994) and Entropy (2009).
TV Appearances and Other Work
Bonnie Greer was a regular guest on BBC Two's Newsnight Review. She also appeared on the BBC's Question Time show many times. In October 2009, she was on an episode with Nick Griffin, who was the leader of the British National Party. Bonnie later called this experience "weirdest and most creepy." This meeting inspired her opera, Yes, which was performed at the Royal Opera House in 2011.
She used to be a director for the Talawa Theatre Company. She also served on the boards of the Royal Opera House and the London Film School. For a time, she was a theatre critic for Time Out magazine.
Books and Documentaries
In 2009, Bonnie Greer's book Obama Music was published. It shares her musical memories. A reviewer from The Independent newspaper said the book "expertly weaves in memories of her own upbringing in Chicago." The reviewer also noted how Bonnie showed that her home and the music she loved had "unseen boundaries" that people fought against.
Her book about Langston Hughes, called Langston Hughes: The Value of Contradiction, came out in 2011. Bonnie also helped produce a documentary film called Reflecting Skin in 2004. This film looked at how Black people are shown in Western art.
Her memoir, A Parallel Life, was published in 2014. A memoir is a book about a person's own life experiences.
Community Involvement
Bonnie Greer is a member of the Arts Emergency Service. This is a charity in Britain that helps young people aged 16 to 19 from different backgrounds. She also supports the SI Leeds Literary Prize. This award is for new fiction written by Black and Asian women in the UK. She is also a board member of the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS).
In 2005, she joined the Board of Trustees for the British Museum. She served two full terms and became Deputy Chairman in 2009. In 2011, she became President of the Brontë Society. However, she resigned in 2015 due to disagreements within the society.
Bonnie Greer also contributed to the 2019 book New Daughters of Africa. This book is a collection of writings edited by Margaret Busby.
You can also see Bonnie Greer on the Sky Arts TV show Discovering Film. She is one of the main experts who talks about famous Hollywood stars. She often comments on the British Royal Family in documentaries, like Channel 4's Charles: Our New King.
In 2023, Bonnie Greer appeared on TalkTV. She suggested that Manchester United and Manchester City football clubs should remove ship images from their logos. She believed these images were racist and glorified slavery. When told that the clubs adopted their logos long after slavery was abolished in the UK, she said that history is changing and they should talk to historians.
Awards and Recognition
Bonnie Greer was given the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) award in 2010. This was for her great contributions to the Arts. Prince Charles presented her with this honor.
In July 2022, she was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London.
Selected Works
Books
- Hanging by Her Teeth (1994), a novel.
- Entropy (2009), a novel.
- Obama Music (2009).
- Langston Hughes: The Value of Contradiction (2011).
- A Parallel Life (2014), her memoir.
Short Stories
- How Maxine Learned to Love her Legs: And Other Tales of Growing Up (1995)
Films
- White Men Are Cracking Up (1996), a screenplay.
Musicals
- Solid
- Marilyn and Ella (2008)
Opera
- Yes (November 2011), performed at the Royal Opera House.
Plays
- Munda Negra (1993)
- Dancing on Blackwater (1994)
- Jitterbug (2001)
Radio plays
- The Little Prince
- Marilyn and Ella Backstage at the Mocambo
- Ferguson (2016)
TV
- Siren Spirits, Episode 4 (1994)
