DR. BARBARA BURFORD
Author • Playwright
Dr. Barbara Burford (1944–2010) was a celebrated Black LGBTQ + author, medical researcher, playwright and trailblazing diversity activist.
Hackney played a major role in Dr Burford’s early life, having spent her formative years in the borough after moving from Jamaica at the age of 10. She attended Dalston County Grammar , later known as Petchey Academy and now known as Excelsior Academy, where she spent her childhood and teenage years.
Why Hackney Matters
Hackney was an important starting point in Barbara Burford’s journey, before she went on to make significant contributions across medicine, literature and equality. Her inclusion in Margaret Busby’s Daughters of Africa also connects her literary legacy to Hackney’s rich history of Black literature, bringing her work into the company of other important Black literary voices and trailblazers connected to the borough.
Did You know?
In 1984, Barbara Burford contributed to A Dangerous Knowing: Four Black Women Poets, the first collection of poetry by Black women living in Britain. The landmark anthology brought together Burford’s work with that of Gabriela Pearse, Grace Nichols and Jackie Kay, helping to make Black British women’s poetry more visible at a time when it remained underrepresented in mainstream publishing.