Literature
MLF: Decolonising My Body with Afua Hirsch at Manchester Central Library
MLF: Decolonising My Body with Afua Hirsch
Manchester Central Library
18th October 2023
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Part of Manchester Literature Festival

‘We’re channelling our ancestors, crediting our ancestors, claiming we are our ancestors “wildest dreams”, and cautioning against our ancestors’ deepest nightmares.’ As she turned forty, broadcaster and journalist Afua Hirsch set out to reconnect with her heritage and apply what she learned to her body. Through puberty rituals to body hair to waist beads to tattoos, in her latest book Decolonising My Body, Afua looks at ideas of how notions of beauty are constructed and stripped away, empowering people to reconnect with their own ancestral heritage and healing their bodies and minds along the way.
Afua Hirsch is a dynamic and fascinating speaker. An award-winning broadcaster, appearing regularly on the BBC, Sky News and CNN, Afua co-presented Samuel L. Jackson’s major BBC TV series Enslaved in 2020. Her first book Brit(ish) was a Sunday Times bestseller and winner of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction. Afua will be in conversation with poet and MLF Patron Jackie Kay. Supported by Sofas & Stuff.
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