Ekow Eshun

Biography

Ekow Eshun (born May 27, 1968) is a prominent British writer, curator, and broadcaster. Described as a ‘cultural polymath’ by The Guardian, he has been a trailblazing voice at the heart of creative culture in Britain for three decades. Ekow Eshun was the first Black editor of a major magazine in the UK with Arena, men’s style magazine, and continued to break ground as the first Black director of a major arts organisation, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, in London.

He is the author of the critically lauded books In the Black Fantastic, Black Gold of the Sun, nominated for the Orwell Prize, and Africa State of Mind, nominated for the Lucie Photo Book Prize. His writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent, Granta, Esquire, GQ Style, Aperture, Wired and L’uomo Vogue. He has contributed to numerous books on artists including Chris Ofili, Mark Bradford, Kehinde Wiley and John Akomfrah.