Emma Dabiri is a broadcaster, historian, and bestselling author.
Emma’s work often delves in to the complexities of identity, culture, and race through art, history, and current affairs. Her Channel 4 documentary Hair Power: Me and My Afro asks how hair became one of the most misunderstood, celebrated and debated aspects of the black experience. It won a Cannes Lion Silver award in the Entertainment Category.
She presented several series of Britain’s Lost Masterpieces for BBC4 and Back in Time for Brixton and The Sweet Makers for BBC2. She’s also taken part in lively debates on Unapologetic (C4) and the controversial Jimmy Carr Destroys Art (C4), Question Time (BBC1) and Have I Got News For You (BBC2).
Emma's latest book 'Disobedient Bodies: Reclaim Your Unruly Beauty', has been praised as “an incisive, radical essay offering empowering alternatives to the pressures of pervasive beauty standards”. In April 2021 Emma released ‘What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition’ which was an immediate Times and Sunday Times bestseller. WWPCDN is a clever deconstruction of the mainstream conversation around anti-racism. It followed on from her debut work ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’ which was an Irish Times Bestseller. DTMH also inspired a national conversation about race and hair and has led to changing regulations in schools and in the British army.
Television
Question Time Guest | Question Time - Guest | BBC One | 2023 |
Britain's Lost Masterpieces Presenter | Britain's Lost Masterpieces - Presenter | 2019 — 2022 | |
Jimmy Carr Destroys Art Guest | Jimmy Carr Destroys Art - Guest | Channel 4 | 2022 |
Unapologetic Guest | Unapologetic - Guest | Channel 4 | 2022 |
Celebrity University Challenge Guest | Celebrity University Challenge - Guest | BBC One | 2022 |
Frankie Boyle's Farewell to the Monarchy Guest | Frankie Boyle's Farewell to the Monarchy - Guest | Channel 4 | 2022 |
The Tommy Tiernan Show Guest | The Tommy Tiernan Show - Guest | 2022 | |
Have I Got News For You? Guest | Have I Got News For You? - Guest | 2021 | |
Politics Live Guest | Politics Live - Guest | 2021 | |
Portrait Artist of the Year Guest | Portrait Artist of the Year - Guest | Sky Arts | 2021 |
Our Coast Guest | Our Coast - Guest | 2020 | |
The One Show Presenter | The One Show - Presenter | 2018 | |
Back in Time Brixton Presenter | Back in Time Brixton - Presenter | 2016 |
Radio
Woman's Hour Guest | Woman's Hour - Guest | 2017 — 2021 | |
Who We Were Guest | Who We Were - Guest | BBC Radio 4 | 2021 |
EXPOSED: Young Female Photographers Presenter | EXPOSED: Young Female Photographers - Presenter | BBC Radio 4 | 2019 |
Saturday Review Guest | Saturday Review - Guest | 2018 | |
Journeys in Afrofuturism Presenter | Journeys in Afrofuturism - Presenter | BBC Radio 4 | 2018 |
Brands
Net-A-Porter
2022
Alex Monroe
2024
Farrow & Ball
2022
ME + EM
2023
Sculpted by Aimee
2023
Shark Beauty
2023
Audi Ireland
Progress Podcast 2022
NatWest
2019
Books
Disobedient Bodies
What White People Can Do Next
Don't Touch My Hair
News
24th September 2024 Jewellery designer Alex Monroe joins forces with Emma, on a jewellery journey through Irish culture, culminating in a celebration of feminine empowerment |
Podcasts
Talk Art Emma Dabiri Live at Dulwich Picture Gallery. | |
Angela Scanlon's Thanks A Million Emma Dabiri: Ireland, Fashion and Madonna | |
Intelligence Squared Emma Dabiri and Alex Renton on race, reckoning and what we can do next. | |
The Women's Podcast Emma Dabiri discusses claiming your unruly beauty. | |
The Penguin Podcast Author, social historian and broadcaster Emma Dabiri talks to Nihal Arthanayake about her latest book, 'What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition’. |