Women of Fitzrovia Lunchtime Talk Series:"Writers, Musicians and Activists"
About this Event
This summer Sue Blundell, with the assistance of Nick Bailey, will be giving a series of three talks on the women – some famous, some anonymous – who have featured in the history of Fitzrovia.
The Black Swan and the Red Virgin: women writers, musicians and activists
Tuesday 8 September 2026, 1pm
Free but ticketed via EventBrite
Virginia Woolf was the most famous but by no means the only female scribbler who lived in Fitzrovia. Among them we can count Fanny Holcroft, eighteenth century playwright and anti-slavery campaigner; Nancy Cunard, poet, founder of a modernist Publishing Press, and an activist in racial politics; and Una Marson, also a playwright, and the first black woman employed by the BBC.
The Black Swan was Elizabeth Greenfield, a former American slave and a brilliant singer brought to Fitzrovia in the 1850s by its greatest impresario, Sir George Smart, and the first in a long line of female musicians who frequented our neighbourhood when it was home to Britain’s premier concert hall, the Queen’s Hall.
Campaigners are not hard to find among Fitzrovian females: the Red Virgin was the nickname of one of the earliest, Louise Michel, a refugee from the Paris Commune who founded the International Anarchist School in Windmill Street in the 1890s, and then accompanied it to Fitzroy Square.
The Fitzrovia Chapel is wheelchair accessible. For accessibility needs, please contact [email protected]
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 0.00
