Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason
HonFLSW
Born1965 or 1966 (age 59–60)
Magburaka, Sierra Leone
Occupations
  • Memoirist
  • arts administrator
  • Africanist
Notable workHouse of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons (2020)
SpouseStuart Mason
Children7 (including Isata and Sheku)
EmployerUniversity of Birmingham
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisAfrican identities: race, nation and culture in ethnography, Pan-Africanism and black literatures (1995)

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason HonFLSW (born 1965 or 1966)[1] is a British memoirist and arts administrator. Originally an English lecturer at the University of Birmingham, she stepped down from her university job to raise her seven children, encouraging the development of their musical talents. She has written two memoirs: House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons (2020) and To Be Young, Gifted and Black (2025), and she is a trustee for several arts charities.

Biography

Kadiatu Kanneh, one of four children,[2] was born in Magburaka to a Welsh mother and a Mende father.[3] She was later raised in Bo, Sierra Leone[3] and Wales, UK.[2] Her parents played instruments while growing up,[4] and she recalled in an interview with The Big Issue that she "grew up thinking music was part of everybody's life".[2] She was educated at Southampton University, where she studied art and met her future husband.[5] She then obtained her PhD at the University of Sussex. Her doctoral dissertation was African identities: race, nation and culture in ethnography, Pan-Africanism and black literatures (1995).[6][7]

Kanneh-Mason originally worked as an English lecturer at the University of Birmingham.[8] In 1998, she published African Identities: Race, Nation and Culture in Ethnography, Pan-Africanism and Black Literatures, a book on the theme of Black identity in African culture.[9] Eventually, she left her job in order to be able to care for the children while her husband was away.[2] After discovering her children's musical talent, she and her husband helped encourage them to develop it further, with some of them studying hours every day and having successful music careers.[10]

She is a trustee for music education charity Music Masters,[11] as well as ESTA, Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Music in Secondary Schools Trust, National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain, the Nottingham Education Trust, and Real Talk TV Notts.[8] She has also served on the Royal Philharmonic Society advisory council.[8]

Kanneh-Mason's first memoir, House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons, was released by Oneworld Publications on 3 September 2020.[12] She won the 2021 Royal Philharmonic Society Storytelling Award and 2022 Indie Book Award for Non-Fiction for her memoir.[13] In 2023, she won the ISM Distinguished Musician Award.[14] She later wrote another memoir, To Be Young, Gifted and Black, released from Oneworld on 8 May 2025 and named after the Nina Simone song of the same name.[15][16] It was longlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction.[17]

In 2025, she was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.[18]

Personal life

Kanneh-Mason's husband is Stuart Mason, an Antiguan British executive at Belmond Limited; he joined his wife at the Music Masters board of trustees in 2021 and became chair in 2024.[19] They have seven children, all of whom are classical musicians: Isata, Braimah, Sheku, Konya, Jeneba, Aminata, and Mariatu.[13] Colin Grant of The Guardian said: "Families in Britain comprise on average two children and no prodigies; few, if any, bear resemblance to the Kanneh-Masons."[4] In addition, she miscarried four times.[4]

Kanneh-Mason lives in Nottingham,[20] where she and her husband raised their children.[13]

Works

  • African Identities: Race, Nation and Culture in Ethnography, Pan-Africanism and Black Literatures (1998)[21][9]
  • House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons (2020)[22][4]
  • To Be Young, Gifted and Black (2025)

References

  1. ^ "'I never regretted giving up my career to have children.' Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason on motherhood, music ..." Ox in a Box. 15 October 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d Graham, Jane (27 May 2025). "Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason: 'Britishness should be something we all have a part in'". Big Issue. Archived from the original on 17 February 2026. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  3. ^ a b Kanneh-Mason, Kadiatu (2020). House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons. Simon and Schuster. p. 13.
  4. ^ a b c d Grant, Colin (24 September 2020). "House of Music by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason review – memoir of an extraordinary family". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  5. ^ "Meet Kadiatu Kenneh-Mason, Sierraloaded Woman Crush". Sierraloaded. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  6. ^ Kanneh, Kadiatu Gwyneth (1995). African identities: race, nation and culture in ethnography, Pan-Africanism and black literatures (PhD thesis). University of Sussex. OCLC 53662606.
  7. ^ "The Power of Creativity & Inclusivity". We Make Music. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  8. ^ a b c "Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason". Brisbane Writers Festival. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  9. ^ a b Kemp, Amanda Denise (2002). "African Identities: Race, Nation and Culture in Ethnography, Pan-Africanism and Black Literatures (review)". Research in African Literatures. 33 (3): 213–215. doi:10.1353/ral.2002.0072. ISSN 1527-2044.
  10. ^ Wertheim, Jon; Chasan, Aliza; Levine, David M.; Germino, Elizabeth (21 December 2025). "With violins, pianos and cellos, the Kanneh-Mason siblings keep music in the family - CBS News". CBS News. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  11. ^ "Kanneh-Mason father appointed new Chair of Music Masters". The Strad. 22 October 2024. Archived from the original on 21 January 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  12. ^ "House of Music". Oneworld. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  13. ^ a b c Mills, Jennifer (16 August 2022). "12 things you should know about the Kanneh-Masons". ABC News.
  14. ^ Lockheart, Florence (12 June 2023). "Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason wins ISM Distinguished Musician Award". Classical Music. Archived from the original on 17 May 2025. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  15. ^ "To Be Young, Gifted and Black". Oneworld. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  16. ^ Lockheart, Florence (8 May 2025). "Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason releases book 'tackling issues of cultural, racial, and national identity'". Classical Music. Archived from the original on 15 June 2025. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  17. ^ Loffhagen, Emma (11 February 2026). "Arundhati Roy and Sarah Perry longlisted for Women's prize for nonfiction". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
  18. ^ "Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason". Learned Society of Wales. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  19. ^ "Stuart Mason (Chair)". Music Masters. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  20. ^ "Access to music education in England: Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason". www.ism.org. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  21. ^ Hendricks, Margo (2001). "African Identities: Race, Nation and Culture in Ethnography, Pan-Africanism and Black Literatures by Kadiatu Kanneh (review)". The Yearbook of English Studies. 31 (1): 331–332. doi:10.1353/yes.2001.0057. ISSN 2222-4289. Archived from the original on 5 May 2025. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
  22. ^ Banks, Janet. "Book review: House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons". The Strad. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
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