Georgina Godwin

Georgina Godwin was born and brought up in Zimbabwe where she became very well known for her work in the Zimbabwean media as a prime time host on radio and television and a columnist and features writer in the local press. She was one of the founders of the Harare International Festival of the Arts, now the largest multi-disciplinary festival in Africa.

After a successful court challenge of the state broadcasting monopoly, Georgina was part of the team which started Zimbabwe’s first independent radio station. This was shut soon after by Presidential decree and the boots and rifle butts of the Police. The broadcasters were declared Enemies of the State and relocated to London where they continued to broadcast to Zimbabwe, this time on short wave.

After 3 years of producing and presenting the news on the station, Georgina went freelance, working extensively in the British media, briefing and contributing information about the Zimbabwe crisis, appearing on and producing many television and radio documentaries. She is one of the first ports of call for media organisations needing an update on Southern Africa or an appropriate Zimbabwean individual to interview. She has now diversified into more mainstream media and can often be heard presenting on radio, commenting on television or chairing live events.

Currently Georgina presents The Continental Shift on Monocle 24, most week day mornings. This is a mixture of music and chat. She also anchors the Weekend Edition on a Saturday during which she conducts a live 30 minute interview – past guests have included Brian Eno, Stanley Johnson, Jamie Byng and John Lloyd of QI. Another of her shows is a new music hour during which she plays the latest global releases. As the resident “Africa expert” she also contributes to news programmes on the station and occasionally reads and writes the hourly bulletins too. Georgina is an experienced arts and culture interviewer, recording conversations with people in the creative industries for a diverse range of media outlets. She is also a skilled voice over artist.

Georgina chairs events and steers discussions at a wide variety of literary festivals, workshops and forums. She also appears both as an After Dinner Speaker and as a Motivational Speaker in Schools. She is involved with a number of different charities and sits on the board of Developing Artists, an international organisation committed to supporting the arts in sub-Saharan Africa.www.developingartists.org.uk

More about Georgina and her family can be found in the books, “Mukiwa”, “When a Crocodile Eats the Sun” and “The Fear”. The latter documents her journey with her brother Peter, back to Zimbabwe to witness the last round of election violence. http://petergodwin.com/