Our Advisory Board

Solomon Rose, Chair of the Board, is an independent consultant with extensive experience in building strategies, creating tailored training programmes and leading change initiatives. He led Hackney Council’s 10-year borough-wide strategy ‘The Improving Outcomes for Young Black Men’s Programme’ ; presenting the strategic approach at national and regional conferences including the local government association (LGA) conference. He has been an advisor to non-profit organisations on strategy, operations, practice development and advised on race equity practice. In 2021 he joined Jacaranda Books as Finance Officer, operating with primary profit & loss, forecasting, modelling and fundraising responsibilities and building a formalised operations and HR structure, before returning to the not-for-profit sector as an independent consultant.

Dorothy Koomson is the multi-award-winning, global bestselling author of 18 novels. Known as Queen of The Big Reveal, her emotional thrillers regularly appear on the Sunday Times bestseller list and have been translated into more than 30 languages. Dorothy featured on the 2021 Powerlist as one of the most influential Black people in Britain, appeared in GQ Style as a Black British trailblazer, and was a judge for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction. This year, 2023 marks Dorothy’s 20th anniversary as a published author. She recently launched a new podcast called The Big Reveal, and a special anniversary edition of her debut novel, The Cupid Effect, will be published by Headline in July 2023. Her latest novel, My Other Husband, is out now in paperback.

Originally from Haiti, Isabelle Dupuy moved to London as an investment banker with Merrill Lynch and now manages a private portfolio. She has been on the board of the London Library for six years and now chairs their nominations committee. Her novel, Living the Dream, was published by Jacaranda Books in late 2019. It was shortlisted for the Diverse Book Awards and was selected as a Guardian Summer Read 2021. She has been published in the White Review, the New York Times, the British Library's anthology on writing 2021, Swallowed by a Whale, Bad Form Review, Black Ballad and more. She chaired the panel of judges for the London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme 2020 and she was a Reader for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2021. She is currently working on her second novel and is represented by Curtis Brown. She holds a BA from Yale University and an MBA from New York University. Isabelle has three children from her first marriage.

Richard Adeshiyan is a print and former television journalist, with over 40 years in the media as a public relations consultant. For eleven years, he worked with The Voice Newspaper progressing from Sports Editor to Deputy Editor, before moving on to edit its award-winning sister publication, The Weekly Journal. In 1996, he launched the weekly Black newspaper, New Nation before going on to work on the BBC’s weekly news and current affairs programme, Black Britain. Richard has worked on several BBC documentaries including the RTS award-winning landmark documentary series, Windrush in 1998, Black is the New Black in 2016 and Black Hollywood: They’ve Gotta Have Us in 2018. He was Associate Producer on Channel 4’s critically acclaimed documentary Britain’s Slave Trade and Assistant Producer on Dispatches, Channel 4’s investigative current affairs strand. In previous years he has contributed as a member of the National Association of Black Journalists organisation in the US, and in 2008 was involved in the UK launch of US television channel, BET International. Richard started his own public relations and media consultancy in 1999, offering strategic advice to a wide-range of clients in both the cultural, public and private sector including the British Museum, Southbank Centre, The British Library, Museum of London and The London Mayor’s Office. His consultancy has also embraced education and training, previously working with Connexions youth service and Hackney’s Learning Trust. Richard is also co-author of Penguin’s The Voice: 40 Years of Black British Lives.

Lina Molokotos-Liederman (PhD, Sociology) is a non-fiction author, editorial manager and academic researcher. She has worked for various organisations, including universities, think tanks and non-profit organisations and for-profit companies. She is an affiliated Researcher at Woolf Institute, Cambridge. She has worked on various research topics in contemporary religion, including humour and religion, especially Muslim comedians and the role of humour in interfaith engagement. Lina is also a freelance editor and translator (fluent in modern Greek and French) and has extensive editorial management experience. Having previously worked in marketing communications, Lina also has commercial experience.