Lanre Bakare is a prominent British journalist and arts and culture correspondent for The Guardian, known for his incisive reporting on the intersection of race, art, and society. Born and raised in Bradford, West Yorkshire, Bakare has built a career spotlighting underrepresented voices and challenging dominant narratives in British cultural discourse.

He was a senior correspondent on the Guardian’s award-winning Cotton Capital project, which investigated the newspaper’s historical ties to transatlantic slavery. His work on the project was praised for its honesty and depth, and included commissioning original artwork—such as a portrait by Claudette Johnson that was later nominated for the Turner Prize2. Bakare has also worked in New York and Los Angeles with the Guardian US team, where he launched a West Coast culture desk and interviewed figures like Spike Lee, Kerry James Marshall, and A$AP Rocky.

In 2025, Bakare published his debut non-fiction book, We Were There: How Black Culture, Resistance and Community Shaped Modern Britain, which explores Black British history beyond London, focusing on cities like Birmingham, Liverpool, Cardiff, and his hometown of Bradford3. His writing has earned acclaim from cultural figures including Steve McQueen and Nesrine Malik, and he’s been described by Elephant Magazine as “one of the art world’s biggest crushes”. Want a peek into the themes of his book or some of his recent articles?