Both Not Half: The Paperback Launch

Hosted by Eshaan Akbar, with audience Q&A, plus a book signing and street food by Curry On Naanstop.

‘This guy has better Punjabi than both of us and he’s only half Punjabi.’ Only. Half. I stared at those words. I felt diminished. I felt like I was being robbed of something essential to me.

For over twenty-five years, actor Jassa Ahluwalia described himself as ‘half Indian, half English’. His fluent Punjabi always prompted bewilderment and the world of casting taught him he wasn’t ‘the right kind of mixed-race’.

Feeling caught between two worlds, Ahluwalia delves into the media we grew up consuming and the legacies of empire we have been taught. Is there anything to be learnt from Rudyard Kipling? Why were movie stars urged to hide their mixed identities? To what extent did colonialism encourage or hinder mixed marriages? Is nationalism outdated? How can the politics of class and queer liberation inform our understanding of mixed identity?

Both Not Half is a rallying cry for a new and inclusive future. It’s a journey of self-discovery that unearths the historical roots of modern mixed identity as we know it, striving to deconstruct the binaries we have inherited and the narratives we passively accept. Part-memoir, part-manifesto: this is a campaign for belonging in a divided world.

Ticketholders to this event will receive 50% off on bar snacks by Curry On Naanstop at Soho Theatre Bar. Valid for one night only.