The Alfred Fagon Award
The Alfred Fagon and Mustapha Matura awards are the leading awards for Black British Playwrights. Winners will be announced on Friday 13th December 2024. Chair of Judges @DanielLBailey tells us more. Visit: https://www.alfredfagonaward.co.uk/
Alfred Fagon lived in Clarendon, Jamaica, then moved to Nottingham, Bristol, and London. He excelled as a boxing champion, welder, actor, poet, and playwright.
After his sudden death in 1986, friends held a memorial evening at the Tricycle Theatre to honor him. Donations from the event launched the Alfred Fagon Award, celebrating Black British playwrights of Caribbean heritage.
The first award, supported by Arts Council England and The Peggy Ramsay Foundation, went to Roy Williams. The Peggy Ramsay Foundation still supports the award. This year’s winning writer receives £6,000.
A bust of Alfred by David G. Mutasa stands in St Paul’s, Bristol. In September 2013, Bristol Old Vic Studio celebrated him with a rehearsed reading of his play 11 Josephine House. On October 26, 2006, the Royal Court Theatre marked the award’s 10th anniversary with another reading of 11 Josephine House. Diane Abbott MP presented Lorna French with the prize for her play Safe House.
The Alfred Fagon Award was founded by Yvonne Brewster OBE, Oscar James, Roland Rees, Sheelagh Killeen Rees, and Paul Stephenson OBE. It is now a registered charity.
