Candace Allen

artist
A woman with curly dark hair smiles into the camera. She is wearing a blue, white and yellow patterned scarf.

Candace Allen is an American writer and cultural critic, known for her political activism during her time at Harvard University in the late 60’s and early 70‘s. She is a frequent commentator on US culture, race, and politics and contributed to the 2008 and 2012 election campaigns of Barack Obama.  She has also written two books exploring the personal, social and political power of music and writes regularly for the Guardian. Candace brought her unique insight and experience as a panellist in ‘Thelonious Monk: Modernist Pioneer’ and produced the essay ‘The demons and obsessions of jazz genius Thelonious Monk’, which derives from the event.