Joan Anim-Addo is a Grenadian-born academic, poet, playwright and publisher, who is Emeritus Professor of Caribbean Literature and Culture in the English and Creative Writing Department at Goldsmiths, University of London,[1] where she co-founded with Deirdre Osborne the MA Black British Literature, the world's first postgraduate degree in this field.
[3] She joined the faculty of Goldsmiths, University of London, in 1994, as founder and Director of the Centre for Caribbean and Diaspora Studies.
[4] She also co-convened, with Deirdre Osborne, the world's first MA in Black British Literature, launched in 2015,[7][4][8][9] which Hannah Pool described as a "landmark for black culture", while novelist Alex Wheatle sees it adding "to the fabric of British literature".
[14] In 2020, Anim-Addo featured in Phenomenal Women, the first photographic exhibition honouring black female professors in Britain, curated by Nicola Rollock.
[15] In 2021, with Deirdre Osborne and Kadija Sesay, Anim-Addo curated This is The Canon: Decolonize Your Bookshelf in 50 Books – in the words of Nikesh Shukla "a vital and timely introduction to some of the best books I've ever read"[16] – which is described as "[s]ubverting the reading lists that have long defined Western cultural life", highlighting alternatives by people of African or Asian descent and indigenous peoples.