Gretchen Gerzina
Gretchen Gerzina says that she\u2019s drawn to writing about those who cross boundaries of time, place, and race. During a distinguished academic career, she\u2019s explored the lives of black people in 18th- and 19th-century Britain and America, and she presented a ten-part series on Britain\u2019s Black Past for Radio 4. She also has a passion for 19th-century children\u2019s books and has written a biography of Secret Garden author Frances Hodgson Burnett - and a biography of Bloomsbury artist Dora Carrington.
Gerzina herself has spent a life moving back and forth between two cultures, Britain and the US. Currently Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, as well as teaching, she\u2019s also now writing a memoir about growing up mixed-race in America; she says: \u201cIt\u2019s time to put the past to bed.\u201d
Her music choices reflect her interest in 18th- and 19th-century black composers and include Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Joseph Boulogne. She reveals, too, a passion for Early Music, with Corelli and Purcell, whose exuberant \u201cWelcome, Welcome Glorious Morn\u201d heads her playlist.
Produced by Elizabeth Burke\nA Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 3