Afua Hirsch on London, Senegal, Ghana, on imperial nostalgia, on the African diaspora, on plane journeys, and on choosing a name for her daughter -- with TWBC

Welcome to the travel/literary podcast The Wandering Book Collector with host Michelle Jana Chan. This is a series of conversations with writers exploring what's informed their books and their lives around themes of movement, memory, sense of place, borders, identity, longing and belonging, and home.In this edition, I speak with the media multi-hyphenate Afua Hirsch whose book Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging takes the reader on an emotional personal journey as she grapples with her own sense of belonging “to find the place where my identity could become whole”, while exploring the contemporary crisis in British national identity: “I realise that my struggle was Britain’s struggle.” Afua’s book won the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize.Consider supporting your local bookshop.The Wandering Book Collector would like to thank the supporters of this podcast:Abercrombie & Kent — Creating unique, meticulously planned journeys into hard-to-reach wildernesses and cultures.TUMI — Creating world-class business, travel and performance luxury essentials.Ultimate Library — Creating bespoke book collections to educate and inspire.If you’re enjoying the podcast, I’d love you to leave a rating or a review.To learn about future editions, please subscribe or hit “follow” on your podcast app of choice.For more on the podcast, book recs, what books to pack for where’s next, and who’s up next, I’m across socials @michellejchan. I’d love to hear from you.And if you’ve missed any, do catch up. From Janine di Giovanni to Bernardine Evaristo to Carla Power, they're all gripping.Thank you for listening!All credit for sound effects: the artists and founders of Freesound.org and Zapsplat.com. All credit for music: the artists and founders of Soundstripe.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.