David Olusoga

Professor David Olusoga OBE, BAFTA winning film-maker, broadcaster and author presents his talk The State of the British Union, Why Black History Matters.

Following his BBC documentary, ‘Union’ David examines why black history matters plus the causes of the ‘history wars’ and asks where they might lead us.

David, a British-Nigerian historian, is the author of seven books including Black & British: A Forgotten History (awarded both the Longman-History Today Trustees Award and the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize): The World’s War, Black & British A Short Essential History: The Kaiser’s Holocaust: Germany’s Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism.

He also writes and presents the long-running BBC history series A House Through Time, Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners, The World’s War, The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files, and the landmark BBC arts series Civilizations.

History is now front-page news, contested as never before. Statues have fallen and the reputations of great men called into question; David is an expert at examining what history reveals about contemporary society.

Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester, and a columnist for The Observer, David also writes for The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Voice and BBC History Magazine.

David is a recipient of both the British Academy’s President’s Medal and the Norton Medlicott Medal For Services to History. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, The Royal Society of Literature, The Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Historical Society.

His books will be available on the evening and he will be signing after his talk.

A new publication and television series are expected very soon.