The Guardian ·
Margaret Busby: ‘My friend Bonnie Greer fearlessly spoke out and forged connections’
The writer and editor shares memories of a creative powerhouse who was generous with her time and expertise
Bonnie Greer personified courage, humour, principle and generosity. Before knowing her in person, I met her work. Her 1994 debut novel Hanging by Her Teeth – about a Black American woman travelling through the US and Europe in search of her father – was sent to me for endorsement by its publisher, and I commented unhesitatingly: “Writing with sharpness, wit and poignancy, Bonnie Greer gathers the sequestered memories behind one Black woman’s bitter-sweet blues.”
The scope of Bonnie’s own life is beyond anything fictional, encompassing highs and lows, triumphs and challenges, her trajectory starting in the West Side of Chicago and ending up navigating iconic areas of London – whether Holland Park or Covent Garden or Soho – as if to the manor born. It was an honour to become her friend, sharing many a good time, offering a consoling shoulder if needed. An added bonus was to meet her husband David Hutchins. What a wonderful mutually supportive team they made.
Bonnie’s activism marched side by side with her creativity and powers of persuasion. Friendship, support, empathy and behind-the-scenes involvement were all part of who she was. She could be effervescently sociable. There was an era when she relished get-togethers of a sort of ladies-who-lunch club that she would organise, where we might chat for hours, exchanging memories, planning dreamy never-to-be-fulfilled projects. I recall one gathering that took place at the House of Commons – with Diane Abbott, Verna Wilkins, Maya Jaggi and Nana Ayebia Clarke – when Bonnie suddenly made us all pause to reflect on the fact we were all sitting there, with a view of the Thames and London’s landscape, given where we had come from.
