Afua Hirsch Announces New Book 'Decolonising My Body'

by SHOWstudio on 24 April 2023

The writer and broadcaster's new book, published by Square Peg Books, will be released in October 2023.

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Decolonising My Body is the new book by the award-winning journalist and broadcaster Afua Hirsch, coming this autumn. It promises to reflect on Hirsch's own journey to 'reclaim her body', after she got her first tattoo aged 40 on her hand, and it got her thinking about ideas of beauty, the history of skin and body modification rituals, and ancestry.

Hirsch previouly explored similar ideas in a film for SHOWstudio as part of the project Bodies of Knowledge, with a spoken word piece meditating on the ring finger. She addressed different significances of the body part, including cultural, spiritual, medicinal and political.

The book is outlined as aiming to 'reconnect [the reader] with your ancestry, better understand the link between beauty and politics, and liberate yourself from mainstream standards that aren't serving you.'