You Belong Here: British Identity

Brexit meant Brexit, sort of – now what does British mean?

The UK is more divided than ever. When national identity feels mired in division, how can we approach it with pride and inclusivity?

Join us for this panel discussion, chaired by Lara Pawson, which picks up on the explorations of identity and belonging which our summer season, You Belong Here, is dedicated to.

Jassa Ahluwalia is a British actor, writer, filmmaker and trade unionist, who has starred in Unforgotten, Ripper Street and Peaky Blinders. Born in Coventry to a white English mum and a brown Punjabi dad in 1990, he spoke English in the playground and Punjabi with his grandparents. His TEDx talk, ‘How Language Shapes Identity’, has clocked up over 180k views and his BBC One documentary Am I English? won an Asian Media Award in 2022. His memoir Both Not Half explores mixed-heritage experience and how to belong in a divided world.

Xiaolu Guo was born in China. She published six books before moving to Britain in 2002. Her books include Once Upon a Time in the East, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018. It was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her most recent novel, A Lover’s Discourse was shortlisted for The Goldsmiths Prize 2020. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a visiting professor at the Free University in Berlin.

Tomiwa Owolade writes about social, cultural and literary issues for the New Statesman, The Times, the Sunday Times, the Observer, UnHerd and the Evening Standard. He won top prize at the RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards 2021. His book This is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Matter was published in 2022.

Lara Pawson lives in London. Her fragmentary memoir, This Is the Place to Be, was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, the PEN Ackerley Prize and the Bread & Roses Award. Her first book, In the Name of the People: Angola’s Forgotten Massacre, was longlisted for The Orwell Prize, and shortlisted for the Royal Africa Society Book of the Year and the Bread & Roses Award. She began her career as a BBC World Service foreign correspondent. Her third book, Spent Light, was published in January 2024.