Afua Hirsch facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Afua Hirsch
FRSL
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Hirsch in 2017
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| Born | 1981 (age 43–44) Stavanger, Norway
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| Education | Wimbledon High School; St Peter's College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Journalist, broadcaster |
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Notable work
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Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging (2018) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Peter Hirsch (great-uncle) |
Afua Hirsch (born in 1981) is a British writer and broadcaster. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, which means she is recognized for her important contributions to literature.
She has worked as a journalist for The Guardian newspaper. From 2014 to 2017, she was the Social Affairs and Education Editor for Sky News. Afua Hirsch is also the author of the book Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging, which was published in 2018.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Afua Hirsch was born in Stavanger, Norway. Her father was British, and her mother was Ghanaian. She grew up in Wimbledon, a part of southwest London.
Her family has an interesting history. Her grandfather, Hans, who was Jewish, had to leave Berlin in 1938. Her great-uncle is Sir Peter Hirsch, a famous scientist who studies metals. Her maternal grandfather, from Ghana, helped set up the education system in Ghana after it became independent. He later had to leave the country for political reasons.
Afua Hirsch went to Wimbledon High School, a private school. After that, she studied philosophy, politics, and economics at St Peter's College, Oxford from 1999 to 2002. She then studied law and became a barrister in 2006. A barrister is a type of lawyer who represents people in court.
Career in Journalism
Afua Hirsch started her career as a legal correspondent for The Guardian newspaper. She has lived in both Britain and Senegal. She also worked as The Guardian's West Africa correspondent, based in Accra, Ghana. From 2014 to 2017, she was the Social Affairs and Education Editor at Sky News.
She has written for many other well-known publications. These include The Observer, The Evening Standard, Vogue, and Prospect. In 2019, she wrote a piece called "What Does It Mean to Be African?" for an important book called New Daughters of Africa.
Discussions on History
In 2017, Afua Hirsch wrote an article in The Guardian that sparked a discussion about Nelson's Column. This famous monument in London honors Admiral Nelson. Hirsch's article encouraged people to think more deeply about Britain's past. She wanted people to understand how history connects to today's society. She later clarified that she was not asking for the monument to be removed. Instead, she wanted people to look carefully at history to understand Britain better.
Books and Television Work
Brit(ish)
Afua Hirsch's book Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging was published in January 2018. The book shares some of her own life story. It also explores black history, culture, and politics in Britain, Senegal, and Ghana. The book became a Sunday Times bestseller. She received an award called the Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction in 2016 while she was writing it.
Decolonising My Body
In 2023, Hirsch released another book titled Decolonising My Body: A Radical Exploration of Rituals and Beauty. This book explores how her identity and society have shaped her physical self.
Television Programs
Afua Hirsch has appeared on various television shows. She was a panelist on the Sky News discussion program The Pledge.
The Battle for Britain's Heroes
In May 2018, Hirsch presented a television program on Channel 4 called The Battle for Britain's Heroes. In this show, she looked at different aspects of former British prime minister Winston Churchill's career. She explored his views on certain groups of people and his ideas about using tear gas in Mesopotamia (now part of Iraq) after the First World War. The program encouraged viewers to think about historical figures in a complete way.
Enslaved
In 2020, Afua Hirsch co-presented a six-part documentary series called Enslaved with actor Samuel L. Jackson. This series explored the history of the transatlantic slave trade. It also looked at how this history connected to her own family background.
African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power
Also in 2020, Hirsch presented the documentary series African Renaissance: When Art Meets Power on BBC Four. For this series, she traveled to Ethiopia, Senegal, and Kenya. She met with musicians and artists and shared the history of each country.
In 2021, it was announced that her production company, Born in Me, signed a deal with Fremantle. The company's name comes from a quote by Kwame Nkrumah, a leader from Ghana.
Africa Rising with Afua Hirsch
In June 2023, Hirsch presented a three-part BBC documentary series called Africa Rising with Afua Hirsch. This series explored how young creative people are changing culture across Africa.
Teaching
Afua Hirsch also teaches at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She holds a special position there in Journalism and Communication.
Achievements and Recognition
In 2019, Afua Hirsch was one of the judges for the Booker Prize for Fiction. This is a very important award for books. That year, the prize was shared between two authors, Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo, which caused some discussion.
Later in 2019, Hirsch was included in the Powerlist 2020. This list names the most influential Britons of African or African-Caribbean heritage. In 2020, New African magazine also named her one of the top 100 most influential Africans. In the Powerlist 2021, she was ranked ninth among the most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom.
In 2024, Afua Hirsch was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. This honor recognizes her significant contributions to literature.
Personal Life
Afua Hirsch met her partner, Sam, when they were both working in law. Sam is from Tottenham, North London, and also has Ghanaian family roots. Their daughter was born in 2011.
