About the Author

Afua Hirsch is a bestselling writer, journalist, presenter, professor and broadcaster. She is the author of Brit(ish), a Sunday Times bestselling Jonathan Cape publication that explores Britishness and identity, and their seismic social and political impact, for which she was awarded the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction. A former barrister, she has also worked in international development, and in addition to reporting on issues ranging from politics and policy, terrorism, the War in Mali, and Africa's tech revolution, she writes and speaks extensively about social issues around justice and identity around the world. She was the co-presenter of Samuel L. Jackson's major BBC TV series Enslaved in 2020. Afua is a columnist for the Guardian and appears regularly on the BBC, Sky News and CNN.

Reviews

Exceptionally rich, inspiring, challenging, wise and moving. I didn't realise I needed this book until I read it and felt stirrings towards my own ancestral awakening of African female cultural beliefs and practices that were sadly long ago lost to the colonial project. This is a ground-breaking book that speaks to all women.
*Bernardine Evaristo, author of 'Girl, Woman, Other'*

I would wholeheartedly recommend Decolonising My Body by Afua Hirsch. It is a very brave and honest exploration, almost and excavation of Eurocentric standards of beauty and perceptions of body, particularly of the female body. It is also a calm and wise call of an awakening, a friendly – or sisterly – invitation to a transformative journey beyond these mental walls that have been erected around and between us by capitalism and patriarchy and colonialism. I found it both universal and timely
*The New Statesman Books of the Year 2023*

There's something on every page of this book that you didn't know before, or makes you look at things a new. An important publication.
*Sathnam Sanghera, author of 'Stolen History' and 'Empireland'*

Decolonising my Body is both a generous offering, and a joy filled testimony. Afua skilfully pulls us into her world, and generously allows us to accompany her on a journey of questioning and unpacking notions of beauty. This exploration lights a path for all people who seek to (re)connect with more expansive understandings of beauty.
*Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, author of 'The Sex Lives of African Women'*

Afua has cut through so much of the noise to provide an enlightening and necessary reflection on how we can learn from the wisdom and beauty of our ancestors to become spiritually healthier humans. This book is a knowledge gift to us all.
*Naomi Evans, author of 'The Mixed Race Experience', co-Founder of Everyday Racism*

The journalist, commentator and author of Brit(ish) reflects on twelve months radical unlearning of Eurocentric and patriarchal conventions of beauty in this powerful and challenging volume.
*Waterstones, 'Best Books of 2023: Politics'*

This is a vital, challenging account of reassessing body image beyond the colonial, patriarchal gaze – told with Hirsch’s trademark rigour and purpose
*i, *Christmas Gift Guide 2023**

Decolonising My Body is Hirsch’s pilgrimage towards another definition of rest and care, one that feels ancestral and intimate. As a reader you can’t help but be swept up in her quest of gentle unlearning and relearning
*The Guardian*

A remarkable journey to unlearn western beauty standards and explore ancestral skin, hair and body modification rituals.
*Observer*

Disarmingly honest... quietly radical
*Evening Standard*

Praise for Brit(ish): Highly personal and yet instantly universal, this is a book that millions will instantly relate to. The book for our divided and dangerous times.
*David Olusoga, author of 'Black and British'*

Praise for Brit(ish): A warm, informative and occasionally heart-wrenching blend of personal and political and the messiness between the two'
*Nikesh Shukla, author of 'The Good Immigrant'*

Afua Hirsch’s Decolonising My Body is a breath of fresh air and is a travel book, a beauty book, and a history book all in one. It made me think about capitalism and race and the body in a new way
*New Statesman*