Johny Pitts
Johny Pitts is an English television presenter, writer and photographer from Firth Park, Sheffield. Biography. He is of mixed-race heritage (his father is from New York and was in the 1970s soul band The Fantastics, which was the subject of a 2015 BBC Radio 4 documentary written and presented by Pitts). He holds US and UK passports and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Writing. Pitts has written for "Blues & Soul" magazine, "Straight No Chaser" and "The Observer", and won the Decibel Penguin Prize for new writers, with his short story "Audience" appearing in the  anthology "The Map of Me" published by Penguin Books. He studied poetry under Debjani Chatterjee and has performed solo and alongside renowned poets John Agard and Valerie Bloom at venues such as the Albany Theatre, the Jazz Café, the Big Chill Festival, Notting Hill Arts Club and the Soho Theatre. His book "Afropean: Notes from Black Europe" won the 2020 Jhalak Prize, the 2020 Bread and Roses Award and the 2021 Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding. It is a written documentary of the lives and culture of black communities throughout Europe, exploring the histories of the black diaspora and  questioning the challenges and inequalities that black communities still experience in European countries. Music. He is a keen musician and member of the Bare Knuckle Soul collective, who have supported the likes of Omar, the Pharcyde, Plantlife and Alice Russell and garnered acclaim from Giles Peterson, Zane Lowe and Trevor Nelson, as well as appearing on the Norman Jay Good Times 7 compilation. Television. In 2002 Pitts participated in the Channel 4 reality television series "Eden". He was previously presenter for "Escape from Scorpion Island", "Roar" and "All Over the Place", He also had stints on hosting with Lauren Laverne  and Myleene Klass and on "Blue Peter" and MTV. In 2019, Pitts lent his voice to "Cyril" in HISTORY's podcast "Letters of Love in WW2" – a series based on the real-life letters of a couple separated by the Second World War. Photography. Pitts collaborated with the novelist Caryl Phillips and Art Angel on a photographic essay exploring immigration and the River Thames for the BBC/Arts Council's The Space, and founded the website www.afropean.com, which is part of the "Guardian" newspaper's "Africa Network", and the ENAR Foundation award-winning "Afropean Culture" page. His photography has been  featured on "The New York Times" Lens Blog and the front covers of the "Journal of Postcolonial Writing" and Harvard University's "Transition Magazine". A limited-edition photo book was published by Cafe Royal Books.