Book Talk – Billy Waters is Dancing at No.1 Royal Crescent
12 June @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Join No.1 Royal Crescent for a talk by Dr Mary L Shannon on her book Billy Waters is Dancing: Or, How a Black Sailor Found Fame in Regency Britain.
‘Finding Billy Waters: Uncovering Black Lives in Regency Britain’
William ‘Billy’ Waters: busker, sailor, immigrant, father, lover, extraordinary talent, and a forgotten Black celebrity from Regency London. Delve into Waters’ incredible life story to find out how he became famous in the streets, on the page, and on the stage, and discover a diverse Regency world that you didn’t know existed.
Dr Mary L. Shannon’s new book Billy Waters is Dancing: Or, How a Black Sailor Found Fame in Regency Britain (Yale 2024) tells the story of Regency London’s forgotten Black celebrity. Mary is a writer and Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Roehampton, London. She is the author of the award-winning Dickens, Reynolds, and Mayhew on Wellington Street and a self-confessed fan of historic houses and dusty archives. Find her at marylshannon.com
