False Idols · 9 Dec · Tickets on sale now Book now
Afua Hirsch
Afua Hirsch

Meet Afua

Afua Hirsch is a British writer, broadcaster, and best-selling author who explores race, identity, and injustice through impactful writing and documentaries. Today, she continues to share powerful narratives and advocate for human rights.

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Decolonising My Body

A Radical Exploration of Rituals & Beauty

From The Sundays Times bestselling author of Brit(ish)

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Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging

Where are you really from?

You’re British. Your parents are British. You were raised in Britain. Your partner, your children and most of your friends are British. So why do people keep asking you where you are from?

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News & Features

Rihanna for British Vogue

Podcast ‘Legacy’ at top of the charts

Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

Award-winning Short Film “Flowers”

The Pandemic Year

Jameela Jamil in conversation with Afua Hirsch

African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power

Gurls Talk with Adwoa Aboah

Take Your Knee Off My Neck

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As featured in

Brit(ish): Afua Hirsch on race and identify in Britain today

Upcoming Events

09
Dec
2026

Featured

False Idols: Breaking the Western Imperial Delusion

Afua hosts Owen Jones and Benjamin Moser at Kings Place for False Idols, an evening about Western empire: the myths it tells about itself, and what those myths still do to power, history and identity. It is the first event Afua has curated herself, and the opening night of Born In Me Presents, a new […]

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16
Nov
2026

Legacy Live: In Conversation with Elif Shafak

Afua takes Legacy, the history podcast she co-hosts with Peter Frankopan, on stage at Kings Place for an in-person evening with the award-winning novelist Elif Shafak. Afua and Peter will be in conversation with Shafak about her new novel, One Brief Moment in All Eternity, and about the writing of history and memory that runs […]

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Two new books I keep coming back to that capture the cultural and political reality we are experiencing like no other. @benjaminfmoser Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History, recovers a suppressed lineage resisting the ethno-nationalist project, and in many cases, prophetically naming its catastrophic violence. @owenjonesjourno The West: How They Really Lost It names the decline of the West, at the hands of elites who are still attempting to blame minorities rather than hold themselves accountable for their self-destruction. If you want to be equipped to navigate this moment, this conversation is essential! Benjamin and Owen will be in conversation with @afuahirsch, whose work has for years demanded and shaped urgent discourse on race, identity, and the legacy of imperial ideas. Join us at Kings Place in London on December 9th for False Idols: Breaking the Western Imperial Delusion A no holds barred conversation! and get your hands on both these essential books, with author signings. We can’t wait to see you. Wednesday 9th December at Kings Place, London, tickets £25 Link to tickets in bio or search False Idols on eventbrite ✨
Announcing! Academy Award nominee and BAFTA Award winner @wunmimosaku joins Swim Sistas as Executive Producer 🌊 Speaking about the film, Wunmi shared: “The story of our relationship with swimming and water has so much depth and history, complexity that is so beautifully captured by Swim Sistas. This powerful film and its themes speak personally to me, as I know it does many others, and I could not be more excited to join as Executive Producer.” So proud to be an EP on this magical film with my company @borninme and co-producer Amandla Crichlow supporting its journey, from its origins in @catherinejoywhite powerful vision, and her desire to celebrate Black women in the water, honouring the stories that came before us, inspiring a future generation and promising new chapters. Beyond excited to welcome Wunmi to this project, championing this story, joining the incredible women onboard, @naomieharris who narrates, and swimmers @alicedearingx @roni.bruno @jasmine.boatswain @lexiesandiford And of course the force of nature and creativity that is its writer, director and creator @catherinejoywhite @variety ✨
What did Benjamin Zephaniah mean to me? He was our Northstar of creativity, truth talking, relentless humanity, the joyful chaos of art He overcame every kind of obstacle imaginable for a young black man growing up in Britain and yet somehow made that experience relatable for everyone He hated war, the killing of innocent people already oppressed, the complacency that comes with following the media or assimilating into the establishment without question It was a privilege to give the 2nd annual Benjamin Zephaniah lecture at the University of Birmingham Alongside some breathtakingly talented young poets @ayanmoaden Zarah Alam @casey_bailey Thank you Alex Johl and Joy Warmington, who made it such a special event. @tv_trev for the photos Wearing @sikadesigns 👗 And to Birmingham for showing up, wow!
Reparations is not a debate, it’s the only thing that makes sense *according to the values Britain purports to have* Reposting this essay I wrote a while back for @amnestyuk on Progressive Foreign Policy. Because this same “debate” has been going round and round my whole life time and every generation before that since enslaved people rose up and fought for liberation Images: 1. Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, sculptures dedicated to our enslaved ancestors @osramba_media 2. Redemption Song, Emancipation Park, Jamaica by Laura Facey 3. Monument to the martyrs of the 1823 revolt in Demerara, Guyana 4. Emancipation plaque, Georgetown, Guyana 5. Kwame Akoto-Bamfo 6. Yinka Shonibare @yinkashonibarefoundation Suspended States I realised I have had the privilege to travel all over the world where black people were colonised and enslaved and see so many of the ways we have depicted this struggle with grace and dignity… maybe I will write a whole thing about that. If you’d like me to lmk ✨ (Link to essay in bio)
I will carry this book wherever I go forever more We live in a world that is sick with oppression, but we have black liberationists, to remind us who we are supposed to be. This book resonates with me on so many levels Rejecting the social conditioning that tells us to create art for its own sake The way some of us have an abusive relationship with music… Saul Williams describes the exact moment he realised hip hop had fallen, infiltrated with the forces that seek to destroy all our conscious movements. “Entertainment” that zombifies. And it was a song I loved sooo much when it came out 🫣 The importance of trip hop! Of Brazil. (Big up @vempraflup !) Of Amiri Bakara, Assata Shakur, Kwame Ture, Nikki Giovanni, and Paul Robeson… Paul Robeson, who changed my life when I read his biography age 15, how he was demonised and smeared so that we would not engage with his message, such as: Every artist, every scientist, must decide NOW where he stands. He has no alternative. There is no standing above the conflict on Olympian heights. There are no impartial observers. The artist must take sides Thank you @saulwilliams 🙏🏽 Songs My Mother Taught Me WHY THE ARTIST MUST TAKE SIDES @haymarketbooks
Climbing a 5000 ft live volcano in the middle of the night seemed like the ideal ritual to embody our writers’ transformation after a week of peaceful writing retreat 👀😅 It was harder than we thought! And also more magical ✨ @writers.portal

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Available in hardback, paperback, eBook (including Kindle)
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