Playwright and Dramatist

Micheal Abbensetts was born in Guyana in 1938. He began his writing career with short stories, but decided to turn to playwriting after seeing a performance of John Osborne's Look Back In Anger. He was further inspired when he went to England and visited the Royal Court Theatre, Britain's premier theatre of new writing, where he was soon to become resident dramatist.

Michael Abbensetts is considered by many as the best Black playwright to emerge from his generation. He has been presented with many awards for his life-time achievements in the area of television drama writing, and in 1979, received an award for an "Outstanding Contribution To Literature" by a Black writer resident in England. His work emerged alongside and as part of the larger development of black British television drama.

Abbensetts was born in Guyana in 1938. He began his writing career with short stories, but decided to turn to playwriting after seeing a performance of John Osborne's Look Back In Anger. He was further inspired when he went to England and visited the Royal Court Theatre, Britain's premier theatre of new writing, where he was soon to become resident dramatist. Sweet Talk, Abbensett's first play, was performed there in 1973.

In the same year, The Museum Attendant, his first television play was broadcast on BBC2. Directed by Stephen Frears, the drama was, Abbensetts says, based on his own early experiences as a security guard at the Tower of London. After these two early successes Abbensetts, unlike most Black writers in Britain at the time, was being offered more and more work. He wrote Black Christmas which was broadcast on the BBC in 1977 and featured Carmen Munroe and Norman Beaton. Like The Museum Attendant, Black Christmas was based on actual experience and was shot on location for television.

During the 1970s and 1980s, a number of Abbensetts' plays were produced for the London theater. Alterations appeared in 1978, followed by Samba (1980), In The Mood (1981), Outlaw (1983) and Eldorado (1983). Inner City Blues, Crime and Passion, Roadrunner and Fallen Angel were produced on television.

Abbensetts' success led to participation in British television's first Black soap opera Empire Road (1978-79) for which he wrote two series. Horace Ove was brought in to direct the second series, establishing a production unit with a Black director, Black writer and Black actors. The television series was unique in that it was the first soap opera to be conceived and written by a Black writer for a Black cast, but also because it was specifically about the British-Caribbean experience. Set in Handsworth, Birmingham, it featured Norman Beaton as Everton Bennett and Corinne Skinner-Carter as his long-suffering screen wife. Although Empire Road was a landmark programme on British television, it managed to survive only two series before it was axed. The late Norman Beaton said of the programme, "It is perhaps the best TV series I have been in."

Norman Beaton continued to star in many of Abbensett's television productions including Easy Money (1981) and Big George Is Dead and Little Napoleons (1994/Channel 4). Little Napoleons is a four-part comic-drama depicting the rivalry between two solicitors, played by Saeed Jaffrey and Norman Beaton, who become Labour councillors. The work focuses on a number of themes including the price of power, the relationship between West Indian and Asian communities in Britain and the internal workings of political institutions.

Much of Abbensetts drama has focused on issues of race and power, but he has always been reluctant to be seen as restricted to issue-based drama. Certainly his dialogue is concerned with the development and growth of character and he is fundamentally aware of the methods and contexts for his actors. Abbensetts has always actively involved himself in the production process and his dramatic works have provided outstanding roles for established Black actors in Britain--Carmen Munroe, Rudolph Walker and of course Norman Beaton--giving them the chance to play interesting and realistic roles as well as creating stories about the everyday experiences of Black people. Abbensetts' work thrived at a time when there was very little drama on television which represented the lives of Black British people and his television plays have created new perspectives for all his viewers.

MICHAEL ABBENSETTS. Born in British Guiana (now Guyana), 8 June 1938; took British citizenship, 1974. Attended Queen's College, Guyana, 1952-56; Stanstead College, Quebec; Sir George Williams University, Montreal, 1960-61. Security attendant, Tower of London, 1963-67; staff member, Sir John Soane Museum, London, 1968-71; resident playwright, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1974; visiting professor of drama, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, 1981. Recipient: George Devine Award, 1973; Arts Council bursary, 1977; Afro-Caribbean Award, 1979. Address: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8EJ, U.K.

TELEVISION SERIES
1978-79 Empire Road 1994 Little Napoleons Television Plays 1973 The Museum Attendant 1975 Inner City Blues 1976 Crime and Passion 1977 Black Christmas 1977 Roadrunner 1982 Easy Money 1987 Big George Is Dead

RADIO
Home Again, 1975; The Sunny Side of the Street, 1977; Brothers of the Sword, 1978; The Fast Lane, 1980; The Dark Horse, 1981; Summer Passions, 1985.

STAGE
Sweet Talk, 1973; Alterations, 1978; Samba, 1980; In the Mood, 1981; The Dark Horse, 1981; Outlaw, 1983; El Dorado, 1984; Living Together, 1988.

PUBLICATIONS
Sweet Talk (play). London: Eyre Methuen, 1976. Samba (play). London: Eyre Methuen, 1980. Empire Road (novel). London: Panther, 1979. Living Together (play). Oxford: Heinemann, 1988.

From Museum of Broadcast Communications

Leader of the House of Lords

Baroness Valerie Ann Amos, was born in Guyana, studied at the Universities of Warwick, Birmingham and East Anglia, and was awarded an Honorary Professorship at Thames Valley University in 1995 in recognition of her work on equality and social justice. She was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws in 2000 from the University of Warwick.

The Right Honourable Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos, PC (born 13 March 1954), is a British Labour Party politician and life peer, currently serving as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council. When she was appointed Secretary of State for International Development on May 12, 2003, following the resignation of Clare Short, she became the first black woman to sit in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

Lady Amos was made Leader of the House of Lords on October 6, 2003 following the death of Lord Williams of Mostyn, which meant that her tenure as Secretary of State for International Development lasted less than six months. Prior to her appointment as Secretary of State for International Development, Lady Amos was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs on June 11, 2001, with responsibility for Africa; Commonwealth; Caribbean; Overseas Territories; Consular Issues and FCO Personnel.

Lady Amos was the principal spokesperson in the House of Lords on International Development as well as one of the Government's spokespersons in the House of Lords on Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. She was previously a Government Whip in the House of Lords from 1998 to 2001 and also a spokesperson on Social Security, International Development and Women's Issues. She was created a life peer in August 1997 as Baroness Amos, of Brondesbury in the London Borough of Brent.

Lady Amos was born in Guyana, studied at the Universities of Warwick, Birmingham and East Anglia, and was awarded an Honorary Professorship at Thames Valley University in 1995 in recognition of her work on equality and social justice. She was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws in 2000 from the University of Warwick.

After working in Equal Opportunities, Training and Management Services in local government in the London boroughs of Lambeth, Camden and Hackney, she became Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission 1989–94. In 1995 Amos co-founded Amos Fraser Bernard and was an adviser to the South African Government on public service reform, human rights and employment equity.

In the House of Lords, Lady Amos was a co-opted member of the Select Committee on European Communities Sub-Committee F (Social Affairs, Education and Home Affairs) 1997–98.

Lady Amos has also been Deputy Chair of the Runnymede Trust 1990–98, a Trustee of the Institute of Public Policy Research, a non-executive Director of the University College London Hospitals Trust, a Trustee of Voluntary Services Overseas, Chair of the Afiya Trust, a director of Hampstead Theatre and Chair of the Board of Governors of the Royal College of Nursing Institute.

On 17 February 2005, the British government nominated her to head the United Nations Development Programme.

From wikipedia.org

Geologist and Engineer

Rocky Persaud was born in Guyana a week after the last Apollo mission returned from the Moon, but was raised in Canada since the age of 2. Rocky has two baccalaureate degrees in mechanical engineering and geology from the University of Toronto.

D. R. "Rocky" Persaud, B.A.Sc., B.Sc. is the owner of the space entertainment company, IPX Entertainment (IPXN), which will be sponsoring Mars Society Canada's next mission, Expedition Beta, a follow-up to Expedition Alpha which he organized to train new young scientists and engineers in Mars analog studies. IPXN will be showcasing a documentary about Expedition Beta on SpaceChannel.TV some time in the summer of 2006. Plans are being developed for IPX and IPXN participation in Mars Society Canada's "Expedition Three" that summer as well.

Rocky is developing a science fiction anthology series for SpaceChannel.TV describing a possible post-Singularity future of humanity. A prequel mini-series, called "The 5 Minute Empire", would deal with worldwide events just before, during and after the Singularity itself.

He was a Science Collaborator on the NASA-led Haughton-Mars Project, and was a crewmember of Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station during the 2001 field season. For the Mars Desert Research Station, he was invited to serve on the first unofficial shakedown crew during a week over Christmas 2001 amidst its construction, where many ideas for a long-term research program was developed. These ideas led him to organizing and commanding the month-long mission of MDRS Crew 14 (which he dubbed Expedition One), the first of a series of international expeditions intensely planned and coordinated by a core group of researchers.

A member of several space advocacy groups, he was a director of the Canadian Space Society, a founding member of the Mars Society's Toronto Chapter, former editor of the Canadian Space Gazette, a delegate to the Space Generation Summit, and recently retired from the board of directors of Mars Society of Canada after serving for more than 5 years in various leadership roles, including president and vice-president of research.

Rocky has two baccalaureate degrees in mechanical engineering and geology from the University of Toronto. He was born in Guyana a week after the last Apollo mission returned from the Moon, but was raised in Canada since the age of two.

Rocky currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Mars Explorers, and led the organization of the 2nd Martian Expedition Planning workshop. Once again steering Mars Society Canada's collaboration with the Mars Society of Australia, Rocky managed the science program for "Expedition Two" in Australia for August 2004, for which he obtained a supporting contract from the Canadian Space Agency.

From Lifeboat Foundation

Poet and Playwright

Born on 21 June 1949 in British Guiana (now Guyana). John Agard worked for the Guyana Sunday Chronicle newspaper as sub-editor and feature writer before moving to England in 1977, where he became a touring lecturer for the Commonwealth Institute.

Playwright, poet, short-story and children's writer John Agard was born on 21 June 1949 in British Guiana (now Guyana). He worked for the Guyana Sunday Chronicle newspaper as sub-editor and feature writer before moving to England in 1977, where he became a touring lecturer for the Commonwealth Institute, travelling to schools throughout the UK to promote a better understanding of Caribbean culture.

In 1993 he was appointed Writer in Residence at the South Bank Centre, London, and became Poet in Residence at the BBC in London, an appointment created as part of a scheme run by the Poetry Society in London. He also played a key role in the 'Windrush' season of programmes in 1998. He won the Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry in 1997 and has travelled extensively throughout the world performing his poetry.

His published poetry includes Man to Pan (1982), winner of the Casa de las Américas Prize, Limbo Dancer in Dark Glasses (1983), Mangoes and Bullets: Selected and New Poems 1972-84 (1985) and Weblines (2000). He is also the author of many children's books, including Lend Me Your Wings (1987), which was shortlisted for the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. He has contributed to, and edited, several anthologies, including The Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse (1986), and is also co-editor of A Caribbean Dozen (1994) with his partner, the poet Grace Nichols, with whom he also co-wrote No Hickory, No Dickory, No Dock in 1991. Their latest collaboration is From Mouth to Mouth (2004), an anthology of poems handed down from all over the world.

John Agard lives in south-east England.

Critical Perspective
By Peter Forbes
Agard is a mesmeric performer and there is something distinctly Puckish about him. Mayhem, overturning the established order appeals to him. He also has a lush sensual side, expressed in some fine erotic poems. Although he has lived in England since 1978 his imagination is still deeply Caribbean.

Agard often writes sequences and books constructed around a single theme. His first book Man to Pan (1982) celebrated the steel drums of calypso. In Limbo Dancer in Dark Glasses (1983), limbo, having originated on the slave ships, is seen as iconic of Caribbean culture. Since his move to England his poetry has become less elemental, more satirical and pointed. Typical is 'Listen Mr Oxford Don' from Mangoes and Bullets (1985)

'He has been prolific in recent years with From the Devil's Pulpit (1997) and Weblines (2000). From the Devil's Pulpit explores the omnipresence of satanic influence in modern life: For Agard, the Devil is a necessary evil, an anarchic force, insinuating himself at every level of modern life. The Devil rearranges Mrs Thatcher's St Francis speech from the steps of No. 10 Downing Street.

Weblines is a book of selected and new poems, reprinting 'From Man to Pan' and 'Limbo Dancer in Dark Glasses', along with a new set of Ananse poems. Ananse is the traditional spider prophet - trickster and spider hero - of the Caribbean. The Ananse stories are primal stories - creation myths. Typical is 'How Wisdom and Commonsense were Scattered'. In prose paraphrase the story is: Ananse gathers up all the wisdom into a gourdpot but with the gourdpot hanging from his belly he could no longer climb a tree. His youngest child tells him to put the gourdpot on his head. In vexation at having his sum of wisdom questioned and added to in this way, Ananse throws the pot down and wisdom is scattered. Agard has helped to make Caribbean culture accessible to a wide audience.

One way in which he has done this has been to write for children. His many books, often illustrated, are as philosophical as his adult books but entirely accessible to children. In Come Back to Me My Boomerang (2001) he has a dialogue between a circle and a square on the respective virtues of rectangularity and circularity. In Get Back, Pimple (1996) he has a poem in which the animals dream of exploiting humans in the way that humans exploit them.

He has also written a play for schoolchildren, The Great Snakeskin (1993).

From Contemporary Writers