Bonnie Greer, novelist, playwright and broadcaster, dies aged 77

British-American novelist, playwright and cultural commentator Bonnie Greer has died aged 77.

Her husband, David Hutchins, said she died on Tuesday evening following a brief illness. The death was announced on 16 September in a statement issued with profound sadness, as reported by The Guardian and the BBC.

Hutchins paid tribute to Greer’s intelligence, courage and distinctive voice, which he said had made an enduring contribution to British cultural and public life. He described her as his partner, confidante and inspiration, and said he felt profoundly privileged to have shared his life with her. He said those closest to her would remember her warmth, humour, generosity and extraordinary ability to bring people together.

Greer was born on 16 November 1948 in the United States. She moved to Britain in 1986 and became a UK citizen in 1997.

Her first book, Hanging By Her Teeth, was published in 1994. She later wrote Obama Music in 2009, drawing on connections to Chicago’s South Side. In 2011 she published Langston Hughes: The Value of Contradiction, a biography of the poet associated with the Harlem Renaissance, the Black literary and artistic movement centred in New York in the 1920s. Her memoir, A Parallel Life, followed in 2014.

Greer was familiar to many British television viewers as a regular panellist. She appeared on Newsnight Review, the BBC’s arts discussion programme, and Question Time, its topical debate programme. She later turned a Question Time appearance opposite Nick Griffin, then leader of the British National Party, into material for the opera Yes.

Outside writing and broadcasting, she held several public roles in the arts and education. She served on the boards of the Royal Opera House, the British Museum and the London Film School. She was chancellor of Kingston University in London, the university’s ceremonial head.

She was appointed OBE in the 2010 birthday honours for her contribution to the arts. The OBE, or Officer of the Order of the British Empire, is a British state honour. In 2022 she was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a membership that recognises sustained achievement in writing.