The Transcription Centre in the Sixties: Navigating in Narrow Seas

Abstract

The Transciption Centre played a part in the diffusion, discussion, and even the creation of African and Caribbean Literatures during a crucial period in their development. It was set up in London in February 1962 and functioned there throughout the rest of the decade. It was funded by the Paris-based Congress for Cultural Freedom, and its official brief was to record interviews with African or Caribbean writers, artists, and intellectuals, in London or elsewhere. Recordings or transcipts of these interviews were to be made available to radio stations in Africa, the Caribbean, or anywhere else where interest in them was expressed (some went to Germany, Denmark, India, Singapore, and other countries). In practice, however, its activities under its director, Dennis Duerden, proved to be much wider than this; branching out into the making of television films, radio plays, and music recordings, or the sponsorship of art exhibitions, concerts, stage productions, and wide-ranging discussions of many contemporary topics. It became something of an informal club for all blacks artists visiting London and a power house for many of their activities.