Joy Francis

Joy Francis was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

Joy is co-founder and executive director of Words of Colour, which has developed, facilitated, produced and promoted writers of colour since 2006. A creative entrepreneur and writer, Joy is a longstanding activist for racial equality and cultural inclusion in literature, publishing and the media, collaborating with universities, theatres, publishers, booksellers, writers and artists of all genres, here and abroad. She was the inaugural project manager for the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowships (2016-2018) and in 2020 she partnered with Jacaranda Books on its acclaimed Twenty in 2020 initiative. In 2019, Joy was selected for the inaugural Museum of Colour People of Letters digital gallery. She gave the National Centre for Writing’s keynote address – ‘Recovery & Reimagining the Literature Sector’ – in 2021, and was a Judge for the British Book Awards 2022.

Image credit: Adrianne McKenzie