BRENT HEROES
Click through the list below to find out about the achievements of these heroes from the Black community with a connection to Brent.
Courtesy Brent Museum and Archives
Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith is an author of novels, short stories and essays. She began her debut novel, White Teeth, during her last year at the University of Cambridge. Smith grew up in Willesden, and Brent features as the setting of many of her novels and her first play, The Wife of Willesden. Based on the medieval poem ‘The Wife of Bath’ by Geoffrey Chaucer, the play was shown at the Kiln Theatre in winter 2021, and will be shown again in December 2022.
Photo Roy Mehta
Zerritha Brown
Zerritha Brown is a Cultural Producer and Arts Leader with 20 years’ experience in community/participatory arts and large scale events.
She led on culture at Brent Council from 2009 - 2022 where key achievements included production of the pioneering Brent 2020 No Bass Like Home digital archive and 7 hour online festival which documented the borough's Reggae history through community stories, the 2018 Brent Windrush 70 Exhibition; an international recognised exhibition and public programme co produced with the community and most recently commissioned and led the development of the Untold Stories History Trail and the Anchor, The Drum and the Ship at Gladstone Park.
She is a Clore Leadership Programme Alumni, a trustee of Poet In The City and a member of the GLA Community Advisory Group for the UNESCO Remembering the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its Abolition.
In February 2022 Zerritha was awarded Best Arts Champion Local Authority in the National Campaign for the Arts, Hearts for Arts 2022 awards for her dedication and commitment to cultural and community engagement which effects long term change.
